Eastwood tells gem of a story about accused guard
Clint Eastwood’s captivating Richard Jewell follows man accused in 1996 Olympic bombing
They say all you need in life is one good friend. Sometimes, one good lawyer will do. And if you can get both in one, you’re flying.
That’s the dynamic between Sam Rockwell’s small-town attorney Watson Bryant, and Paul Walter Hauser as Richard Jewell. In 1996, Jewell was accused of setting a bomb in Atlanta’s Olympic Park that killed one person and injured more than 100.
But as director Clint Eastwood’s movie makes clear from the opening frame, Jewell was never anything but a hero. The security guard found an abandoned backpack, convinced the cops to take it seriously, and was helping move people away from it when it exploded.
It was only several days later, when a story appeared in the local paper that the FBI considered Jewell a suspect, that a second explosion took place; this one took out the hero’s life, psychologically if not physically.
Richard Jewell’s screenplay was adapted by Billy Ray from a 1997 Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner. The long-form reporting includes many details that are picked up by the film, including a joke made at the time by Jay Leno, that Jewell “had a scary resemblance to the guy who whacked Nancy Kerrigan.” (Hauser also played that role in I, Tonya.)
The impeccable cast includes Jon Hamm as a hard-charging FBI agent, and Kathy Bates as Jewell’s straight-arrow mom. (When asked if he’s part of any religious cults, Richard replies: “Not unless being a Baptist is a religious cult.”) The one clanging note is Olivia Wilde as newspaper reporter Kathy Scruggs; she seems to be overselling her role as a blowsy, hair-unkempt, sunglasses-inside journo.
But it’s Hauser and Rockwell who really sell the story. As Jewell, Hauser is all “yes sir, yes ma’am,” southern respect and deference. And Rockwell’s Bryant is a pugnacious lawyer: “Let’s beat the hell out of these bastards,” he says upon agreeing to represent the man.
It’s also lovely to see Rockwell firmly on the side of the angels, after a run of (albeit excellent) parts that saw him playing a racist cop (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), a Klan leader (The Best of Enemies), an unpopular president (Vice) and a Nazi (Jojo Rabbit). Honestly, I was beginning to worry about him. Eastwood, meanwhile, has had a real thing for real heroes of late, dramatizing those who foiled a terror plot on a train (The 15:17 to Paris), landed a damaged plane on the Hudson River (Sully) and fought for their country (American Sniper).
This newest is an almost textbook case of cinema as a catharsis machine. There’s little nuance, a stirring score, a scene where Jewell’s mom castigates the media, and another where he gets to give what-for to the FBI. They do have it coming; Hamm’s character spends much of the film portraying Jewell as a lone bomber, and then tries to spin him as a lone bomber — with an accomplice.
But the film hits hardest in the way it shows how, once a suspicion of guilt is made, the law can have a difficult time pivoting. Anything unusual — and Jewell sounds like he was a basket of unusual — goes into propping up the theory.
And when Bryant calls him out for being so co-operative with the FBI, for not being more angry and combative — for not being more like Bryant himself — Jewell raises his voice for pretty much the only time in the movie, telling him: “I don’t know how to be that guy. You’re that guy. I’m me.”
That’s the only thing of which he was ever guilty.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF Lately Clint Eastwood has developed a penchant for making movies about real-life heroes, from a U.S. Navy Seal to “Sully” Sullenberger to civilians who thwarted a terrorist attack on a train.
But for close to half a decade, the five-time Oscar winner has thought about the story of Richard Jewell, the security guard who saved thousands of people at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics from a bomb explosion. Jewell was initially praised as a hero, before the media falsely accused him of being a terrorist who had planted the device. Jewell, played by Paul Walter Hauser (I, Tonya, Blackkklansman), was exonerated, but not before his life was ruined. He died at 44 in 2007.
As Eastwood approaches 90, there’s an impulse to want to try to revisit moments from his past. But the filmmaker has his eyes peeled forward, always looking toward the next project.
“No Mickey Mousing around,” he smiles.
Eastwood and Hauser spoke with Postmedia in an exclusive interview.
Q What drew you to this story? Eastwood It’s the great American tragedy. It’s the ultimate drama, in a way, because he’s a real-life hero who has been completely screwed over by the public and the media’s rush to make a judgment.
Q You’ve been drawn to acts of real-life heroism recently. Why are these types of tales inspiring to you artistically? Eastwood I just enjoy them as stories and I can see them as I’m reading it. This was a real example of that. How could someone get screwed over so bad? There have been many cases in life that have gone that way, but it’s so odd. One day you’re on top of the world and the next day you’re at the bottom of the heap. This was a good example of that.
Q You’d been attached to direct Richard Jewell for several years. Why was he a character you couldn’t let go of ? Eastwood You felt for him right away and you felt for his family right away — his mother and his friends. The guy had a nice little life going. Sure, he made some mistakes, but he was just a regular Joe. Then all of a sudden he got screwed completely.
Hauser He’s just a regular guy.
I think that hopefully he feels real, so people, when they watch the movie, will say, “Oh, I know a guy like that.” It’s an important story to tell. It’s not just a notable tragedy ... we’re trying to right the wrongs of that false narrative of him.
Q We hear terms like “fake news” nowadays and what happened to Jewell was really an early incarnation of that. Eastwood We’ve had a lot of people commenting on that. It’s as pertinent today as it might have been when it happened 23 years ago ... the unfairness of it all. Here you have a guy who gets a wonderful break then all of a sudden it gets taken away from him and everyone abuses and trashes him, to different degrees. That’s a tragedy. You’d be rooting for the guy if you met him.
Q Did it dim your view of the media?
Eastwood It was more the speed of which it all takes place.
... Everything about them was judgmental.
Hauser They were trying to piece together a picture that didn’t exist. That was painfully obvious when you look back at all the evidence and see that everything was circumstantial. The grenade Richard had in his home was hollowed out. It was war memorabilia, and in any other house in Georgia you might find something like that. It was very convenient for them to take those elements of him and then try paint the picture to match their narrative.
Eastwood When I was a kid, we all had those types of grenades. ... They were good little items for kids. I think I had one somewhere.
Q Why was Hauser right to play Jewell?
Eastwood Somebody said to me, “Did you see, I, Tonya?” and I had, I loved that picture. And then someone suggested Paul and I remembered him. He looked like Richard Jewell and later on, when I went through all the material on Richard Jewell, he seemed right. So I met him, and I came away thinking, “This guy was born to play this.” He looks like he could be his twin. It was set up at Fox a few years ago, but it fell apart ... someone in there either got greedy or crazy or whatever. But earlier this year, I thought about taking one more look at that. So we found Paul and then we started to think about who else could be great in it and it just fell together in a matter of weeks.
Q Paul, there are a lot of supporting stars, but you really have to carry this movie. What tips did Eastwood gave you? Hauser He reminded me to be confident in the fact that I was right for the role. Being the lead of a film and working with a celebrated studio like Warner Bros. and working with Clint and (screenwriter) Billy Ray and this cast is very intimidating. They didn’t make me feel intimidated, they were warm and collaborative, but I was intimidated.
But he kept telling me that this wasn’t a fluke and that I could really pull it off and do the job. That was great advice. It was great to have someone just say, “Don’t overthink this. Just go in and do what you do. That’s why you’re here.”
Q What do you hope young people, who don’t know the story of Richard Jewell, take away from this film? Eastwood He’s somebody people can identify with. You can look at this story and see a time when you or someone you know was falsely accused of something. There’s a certain pathos to it. Richard’s a common man, just trying to learn a noble business — law enforcement — and be a productive member of society. Sure, he has his flaws and he’s done a lot of dumb things, but we all have along the way. What happens to him is the ultimate screw-over.
You felt for him right away and you felt for his family right away ... The guy had a nice little life going. Sure, he made some mistakes, but he was just a regular Joe.