This week’s movie of the day is Silkwood (1983), directed by Mike Nicholas and starring Cher, Meryl Streep, and Kurt Russell.

Based on the true story of Karen Silkwood who was working at a nuclear facility in Kerr-McGee Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site in Oklahoma.

The facility made plutonium pellets and Karen was part of the team making them. She also became the first woman on their union’s negotiating team. She voiced concerns of the safety of herself and the workers who were dealing with the plutonium. She noticed numerous safety violations and various amounts of tampering x-rays of the workers who were expose to this plutonium.

She also told her observations and findings about the facility in the 1974 Atomic Engenry Commission in Washington D.C. Such as fuel rods were being remade very badly, and when someone was contaminated they just make them take a shower. Karen and some of the workers while working came into physical contact with radiation and the heads of the plant blame the workers for their exposure. After some time of collecting evidence, Karen is en route to talk to a New York Times journalist and gets into a car accident that fatally killed her. Many people believed that it was no accident and that the killing of Karen Silkwood was a message to those in the facility to not talk.

The making of the five took about nine years to get off the ground. Jane Fonda was supposed to play Karen Silkwood and be produced by Warner Brothers. However, there was an issue when one of the producers named Buzz Hirsch.

He was subpoenaed by a judge in Oklahoma City. The judge wanted Buzz to discuss where did he get all of his information regarding this subject. It was later overruled by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The movie was then acquired by ABC Motion Pictures and had Mike Nicholas attached to direct the movie and Meryl Streep to star in the leading role.

If you would like more information about Karen Silkwood story. Here is a show from the History Channel discussing it:

Until next time!

Sources: Youtube.com, IMDb.com