EXCLUSIVE: Fox has closed a deal to acquire rights to Marie Brenner’s 1997 Vanity Fair article “The Ballad Of Richard Jewell”, which will be developed for Jonah Hill to play the title subject. Jewell was the security guard who discovered a backpack in the Olympics compound in Atlanta in 1996. Initially hailed a hero for reporting the suspicious knapsack and then helping clear bystanders from the area before it exploded, Jewell was subsequently vilified just three days later as a potential suspect, his life and reputation torn apart in the advent of the 24 hour news cycle. Leonardo DiCaprio will play a lawyer Jewell knew casually, a Southern attorney who mostly did real estate closings and seemed in over his head, but he guided Jewell through a hellish Twilight Zone that went on even after the FBI officially cleared Jewell’s name three months later.
Brenner, whose VF article was the original source material for the Michael Mann-directed tobacco whistle-blower tale The Insider, accompanied Jewell and his attorney just as it finally became clear he had nothing to do with placing the bomb. The film will be produced by Appian Way’s DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Hill and Kevin Misher, the latter of whom brought in the article. Misher Films’ Andy Berman will also have a producing role.
This comes as both DiCaprio and Hill are up for Oscars for Best Picture nominee The Wolf Of Wall Street. It is particularly a strong role for Hill, who continues his remarkable transition from comic actor to serious roles that started with an Oscar-nominated turn in Moneyball and continues with the Rupert Goold-directed True Story, in which Hill plays Michael Finkel, a disgraced journalist who got the chance at redemption when a suspected killer (James Franco) took Finkel’s name, and would only talk to that journalist. That project is also at Fox, with New Regency.
This latest deal seems timely with the Sochi Winter Olympics about to begin, but this is more a cautionary tale about how a media rush to judgment, based on law enforcement leaks and rumors, can trample the rights of individuals before the facts are even in. Jewell’s move from hero to a potential bomber looking for attention happened in an alarmingly short span before, in his words, the FBI and journalists were on him “like piranha on a bleeding cow.” Based on the flimsiest evidence and the FBI’s zeal to corral a suspect, Jewell, a former sheriff’s deputy who earlier that year moved in with his mother to care for her during a health crisis, and took a security job because he thought it would be strong resume material as he tried to become a cop, was suddenly depicted as a 34-year-old loser who lived with his mother.
After the Atlanta Journal Constitution boldly wrote a front-page story that flatly said Jewell fit the profile of a lone bomber, 10,000 reporters decamped outside their small apartment, which the FBI tore apart looking for evidence, taking hair samples and fingerprints. Jewell’s mother was particularly traumatized, particularly when her favorite newsman, Tom Brokaw, came on NBC and reported the feds probably had enough to arrest and charge her son, but perhaps not enough to convict him yet. Jay Leno turned Jewell into a nightly running joke on The Tonight Show, ridiculing him for his weight and other matters. It was an ugly chapter for journalism, with bogus reporting that included the assertion on CNN that Jewell was seen before the explosion with a homemade bomb. Lawsuits were filed and settled with several news outlets. Jewell died in 2007 at age 44, and at least in his obits, he was called a hero. An anti-government militant later confessed to the crime.
This looks interesting. I lived in Atlanta around the time that these events occurred, and I followed the Richard Jewell story with interest. The man really got a raw deal from the media. I'm glad that he was formally recognized as a hero before his death in 2007.
Now, y'see, even I was convinced at the time the loser had done it for cliche'd attention...The guy was his own prosecution.
(Although that was largely because the ugly-journalism even tried to cement the "Starved for attention" case by showing home-video of Jewell hamming it up at a friend's wedding.)
Turns out it was some small-time terrorist-wannabes who weren't even remembered by the press.
And if the prospect of playing no-life losers in weed-comedies frightens you, Jonah, then you should cease taking no-life loser roles.
Now, y'see, even I was convinced at the time the loser had done it for cliche'd attention...The guy was his own prosecution.
(Although that was largely because the ugly-journalism even tried to cement the "Starved for attention" case by showing home-video of Jewell hamming it up at a friend's wedding.)
Turns out it was some small-time terrorist-wannabes who weren't even remembered by the press.
And if the prospect of playing no-life losers in weed-comedies frightens you, Jonah, then you should cease taking no-life loser roles.
Ummm... it was one guy, Eric Robert Rudolph, who was also responsible for at least 2 abortion clinic bombings and the bombing of a gay nightclub. Fortunately, he was found and arrested in 2003 and is now spending life in a supermax in Colorado
Really hope this happens. The last few projects Leo's said to have picked up haven't really gone anywhere. What happened to 'The Devil in the White City' or that cop movie he was going to do with Jamie Foxx?
Leo aside, I'd be really happy to see Jonah Hill do a leading role in a drama. The story sounds great, I hope they handle it tastefully and find a good director.
Captain Phillips scribe Billy Ray is, according to Variety, set to script the recently announced The Ballad of Richard Jewell, which is set to reunite The Wolf of Wall Street stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill.
The Vanity Fair article "American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell" by Marie Brenner will serve as the primary basis for the film, detailing the life of the title character who, in 1996, became both a national hero and, immediately thereafter, a suspect in the Olympic Park bombing.
Hill will play Jewell, whose life is thrown into turmoil following allegations of his involvement in the disaster. DiCaprio, meanwhile, will play his lawyer. Jewell was eventually exonerated, but not at the expense of an investigation that, for months, had the American public believing him a potential terrorist.
DiCaprio is producing through his Appian Way alongside Hill, Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Kevin Misher. Andy Berman will also produce through Misher Films with the project set for distribution through 20th Century Fox.
I'll be honest. Jonah Hill is not who I think of as portraying Richard Jewell. I've only seen him do comedic roles so I guess we'll see if he's got the range to take this on. I hope he does well with this.
I dont know if I can see Jonah Hill doing a dramatic lead role. Even in Moneyball, where I thought he was fine (but far from Oscar nom-worthy), there was comedy to it. This is a straight drama. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not sure it'll work.
From what I read, this guy's story is a rollercoaster ride, so I suspect this will not be straight drama, but rather a dramatic cupcake with dark comedic sprinkles. Not quite as comedic as American Hustle or TWOWS, but still somewhat. If anything, Hill's natural tendency to improvise will add some comedic moments.
Last edited by Mandalorian; 03-06-2014 at 03:49 AM.
Clint Eastwood is circling to next direct The Ballad Of Richard Jewell, and has been in discussions with Disney/Fox drama based on the life of a security guard whose life was turned upside down in a moment after it was leaked by law enforcement to a reporter that Jewell was a possible suspect in the Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. From the moment he was outed by an article written by an overzealous reporter at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Jewell went from hero to one of the most hated men in America.
The script is by Billy Ray (Captain Phillips). Eastwood flirted with the project once before. [SOURCE]
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