Smith, Scott and Charles are eventually banned from their work and fired, with Smith going on a rant in the office before being escorted out. Rather decides that after the hearing he will retire from broadcasting. When she faces the board, Mapes stands up for herself and presents the evidence from her point of view. Nonetheless, she is fired after the hearing. Rather makes his last broadcast, citing the courage it took for his crew to get through the toughest times. The film is based on Mary Mapes's 2005 memoir "Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power". It was produced by Mythology Entertainment. The film had been in development since 2007. In July 2014, it was announced that Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett would portray CBS News anchor Dan Rather and "60 Minutes Wednesday" producer Mary Mapes, respectively. In September 2014, Elisabeth Moss joined the cast as CBS associate producer Lucy Scott, and Dennis Quaid was cast as Colonel Roger Charles. Topher Grace and John Benjamin Hickey joined the film in October, as researcher Mike Smith, and Mark Wrolstad, Mapes's husband, respectively. Bruce Greenwood was cast as Andrew Heyward, president of CBS News. In November, David Lyons was added to the cast as Josh Howard, "60 Minutes" executive producer and Mapes's supervisor. It was later reported that Stacy Keach had joined the cast of the film. Mandy Walker is the cinematographer, and Fiona Crombie is production designer. Brian Tyler scored the film. The film's production budget was more than $9.6 million. Principal photography began in October 2014 in Sydney, with filming scheduled for eight weeks during the Australian spring. On May 18, 2015, it was announced that Sony Pictures Classics had acquired United States distribution rights for $6 million. The film was selected to be screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015, and was selected as the Opening Night film of the 23rd Hamptons International Film Festival. It premiered in the UK at the BFI London Film Festival. The film was released in the United States on October 16, 2015, with a limited opening in 6 theaters, making $66,232. It expanded wider on October 30 to 1,122 theaters, making $875,935, for a total of $1.1 million. "Variety" described this a "dispiriting" opening. "The Hollywood Reporter" said that the film had disappointing opening numbers, as, like other adult dramas and awards hopefuls released in October, it suffered from a "total market saturation by films aimed at the over-30 crowd".