Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell is set to have its world premiere at this year’s AFI Fest. The Gala will take place on Wednesday, November 20 at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
The movie is based on the true story of Richard Jewell, a security guard during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games who discovered a bomb and tried to evacuate the grounds before it would detonate. However, as the police started investigating the drama they started to realize that Jewell could be a suspect and, in fact, responsible for entire the bomb hoax.
I had mentioned on 10.08.19 that a west-coast source, who’s seen the film, told me “Richard Jewell” was Eastwood’s “unrelenting condemnation of a corrupt FBI and a news media willing to go along with any narrative they deem click-worthy.” This same source additionally theorized that for those very reasons the film will no doubt “irk more than a few” people whom, as they watch the film, will realize Eastwood is drawing parallels to FBI corruption and “fake news” in the Trump-era.”
I warned y’all.
And now comes The Atlanta Journal-Constitution questioning the accuracy of Clint Eastwood’s film ahead of its premiere on Wednesday.
The Wrap has received a letter from AJC editor-in-chief Kevin G. Riley challenging the portrayal of AJC reporter Kathy Scruggs— in the film she is seen trading sex with an FBI agent in exchange for a tip on a story. Riley claims no evidence has ever been found of this even happening. Additionally, Riley challenges the film’s depiction that the paper ran its story based on questionable sourcing and that the paper failed to challenge law enforcement’s investigation.
“This is essential because the underlying theme of the movie is that the FBI and press are not to be trusted. Yet the way the press is portrayed often differs from reality,” Riley said in the letter to TheWrap on Monday.
More intriguingly, the AJC are rather irked by Eastwood’s decision to condemn their reporting as “The decision to publish was influenced by several factors, including the AJC’s confirmation from law-enforcement sources that they were focusing on Jewell, and highly visible FBI activity at Jewell’s apartment – where agents were preparing to execute a search warrant,” Riley said.
“Richard Jewell” is the third film from the legendary filmmaker to debut at AFI after 2011’s “J. Edgar” and 2014’s “American Sniper.” Paul Walter Hauser (“I, Tonya”) plays Jewell, Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm, and Olivia Wilde complete the cast.
Quiver, a tiny specialty distributor that makes even Vertical and Briarcliffe look behemoth, has picked up U.S. distribution of the long-delayed film from fellow micro-indie Blue Fox.