Richard Jewell (film)

Richard Jewell is a 2019 American biographical drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood and written by Billy Ray, based on the 1997 article "American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell" by Marie Brenner, published in Vanity Fair, and the book The Suspect by Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen. The film depicts the Centennial Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, and its aftermath, in which security guard Richard Jewell found a bomb and alerted authorities to evacuate, only to later be wrongly accused of having placed it himself. It stars Paul Walter Hauser as Jewell, alongside Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm, and Olivia Wilde.

The film had its world premiere at AFI Fest on November 20, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 13, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the ten best films of the year, with Bates also being recognized for Best Supporting Actress.

Premise
The film is based on an article published by Vanity Fair in 1997, and the book The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle (2019), by Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen, and chronicles Richard Jewell's life during the events that led to an attack at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Jewell works as a security guard at AT&T (which acquired Warner Bros.' parent company, now called WarnerMedia, in 2018) when he discovers the plot that resulted in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. He then heroically saves lives after a bomb detonates during the 1996 Summer Olympics. However, the FBI identifies him as one of many suspects and this leads to his unjust vilification by journalists and the press. The FBI clears him after 88 days.

Cast

 * Paul Walter Hauser as Richard Jewell
 * Sam Rockwell as Watson Bryant
 * Kathy Bates as Barbara "Bobi" Jewell
 * Jon Hamm as Tom Shaw
 * Olivia Wilde as Kathy Scruggs
 * Ian Gomez as Agent Dan Bennet
 * Dylan Kussman as Bruce Hughes
 * Wayne Duvall as Polygraph Examiner
 * Mike Pniewski as Brandon Hamm
 * Nina Arianda as Nadya
 * Christian Adam as Drunk Teen

Production
The project was announced in February 2014 when Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill teamed to produce the film, with Hill set to play Jewell, and DiCaprio the lawyer who helped Jewell navigate the media blitz that surrounded him. Paul Greengrass began negotiations to direct the film with Billy Ray writing the screenplay. Other directors considered include Ezra Edelman and David O. Russell before the project went to Clint Eastwood. DiCaprio and Hill were no longer officially attached to star, though they remained as producers.

In May, Warner Bros. acquired the film rights from 20th Century Fox, which had been acquired by The Walt Disney Company earlier that year. In June, Sam Rockwell was cast as the lawyer, and Paul Walter Hauser as Jewell. Kathy Bates, Olivia Wilde, Jon Hamm and Ian Gomez were also cast. In July 2019, Nina Arianda joined the cast.

Filming began on June 24, 2019 in Atlanta.

Marketing
A trailer was released on October 3, 2019.

Release
The film had its world premiere at AFI Fest on November 20, 2019. It was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on December 13, 2019.

Box office
In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Jumanji: The Next Level and Black Christmas, and is projected to gross around $10 million from 2,502 theaters in its opening weekend.

Critical response
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 75% based on 106 reviews, with an average rating of 6.96/10. The site's consensus reads: "Richard Jewell simplifies the real-life events that inspired it -- yet still proves that Clint Eastwood remains a skilled filmmaker of admirable economy." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Controversy
The film came under fire for its portrayal of late Atlanta-Journal Constitution reporter Kathy Scruggs, who died in 2001. Criticism was specifically directed at the film for depicting her as offering to trade sex with an FBI agent in return for confidential information. The current editor-in-chief of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution wrote in an open letter that this depicted incident was "entirely false and malicious". Employees of the newspaper demanded the film have a prominent disclaimer that "some events were imagined for dramatic purposes and artistic license". Wilde, who plays Scruggs in the film, defended her role and claimed a sexist double standard that Jon Hamm's portrayal of the FBI agent was not held to the same scrutiny. Commentators noted that Wilde's character was based on a real person, whereas the FBI agent was an amalgamation of multiple characters from the original script.