to him and testifies before a Congressional committee, while Libby is convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice and given a 30-month prison sentence, although President Bush commutes the jail time on Libby's behalf. Main cast Production Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe were originally cast in the lead roles in 2008. Production took place in Washington, D.C. and New York City. In October 2009 the film news website Corona's Coming Attractions published an exclusive review from a source that had been invited to a test screening of the film. The reviewer gave the rough cut a positive recommendation calling it, "A wonderful human drama with political suspense that should interest anybody no matter how they vote." The film had a public screening during the Abu Dhabi film festival on October 21, 2010, and it got a generally positive review. There was also a session with the director afterwards. There was a second preview screening in Brisbane, Australia as part of the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) on October 28, 2010. Critical reception On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 174 reviews, with an average rating of 6.89/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "It struggles with the balance between fact-based biopic and taut political thriller, but Fair Game brims with righteous anger – and benefits from superb performances by Naomi Watts and Sean Penn." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a grade "A−" on a scale from A+ to F. Historical accuracy The film's premisethat Joe Wilson's fact-finding trip to Niger debunked the British claim that Saddam Hussein had tried to obtain uranium thereremained contested by some political writers. In a November 2010 Washington Post column about the film, Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby, two reporters who had covered the Plame affair, wrote that Wilson's assessment of the situation was accurate, while National Review journalist Clifford May disagreed, writing that "the most important piece of information Wilson brought back from his mission to Africa was that a high-level Iraqi trade mission had visited Niger in 1999." Separately a December 2010 Washington Post editorial also disagreed with Pincus and Leiby, citing the 2004 British Butler Review, which stated that the original claim by the British government was accurate. In response, journalist David