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The First Trailer for Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell is Here

Richard Jewell was working as a security guard at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, during the 1996 Summer Olympics when his life took a drastic turn. Jewell discovered a duffel bag filled with explosives, and his quick-thinking helped clear most people out of the area before the bomb went off, killing one person and injuring 111. Were it not for Jewell’s action, the death toll would have likely been much, much higher. He was, by any stretch of the imagination, a hero.

But Jewell’s fate was not to be the hero. In short order, he became the focus of a sprawling investigation, led by the FBI, in which he emerged as the prime suspect. Jewell went from saving lives to being the focus of intense law enforcement scrutiny and a media feeding frenzy. He was guilty before being proven innocent as his name and face became known throughout the country. (Eric Rudolph was the actual culprit and was eventually convicted for this and several other attacks.)

Enter Clint Eastwood, a director who works quickly (he started shooting Richard Jewell this past June and it’ll be released in December!) and often works from real life, as he did with The 15:17 to ParisThe first trailer is as gripping an introduction to this film as you could ask for.

Eastwood directs from a script from Billy Ray (Terminator: Dark Fate, Captain Phillips), based on a great Vanity Article by Marie Brenner titled “American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell.” Check out the trailer here:

Here’s the official synopsis from Warner Bros:

“There is a bomb in Centennial Park. You have thirty minutes.”

The world is first introduced to Richard Jewell as the security guard who reports finding the device at the 1996 Atlanta bombing—his report making him a hero whose swift actions save countless lives. But within days, the law enforcement wannabe becomes the FBI’s number one suspect, vilified by press and public alike, his life ripped apart. Reaching out to independent, anti-establishment attorney Watson Bryant, Jewell staunchly professes his innocence. But Bryant finds he is out of his depth as he fights the combined powers of the FBI, GBI, and APD to clear his client’s name, while keeping Richard from trusting the very people trying to destroy him.
The film stars Oscar winners Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) as Watson Bryant and Kathy Bates (“Misery,” TV’s “American Horror Story”) as Richard’s mom, Bobi; Jon Hamm (“Baby Driver”) as the lead FBI investigator; Olivia Wilde (“Life Itself”) as Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Kathy Scruggs; and Paul Walter Hauser (“I, Tonya”) stars as Richard Jewell.

Oscar-winner Eastwood directed from a screenplay by Oscar nominee Billy Ray (“Captain Phillips”), based on the Vanity Fair article “American Nightmare—The Ballad of Richard Jewell” by Marie Brenner. Eastwood also produced under his Malpaso banner, alongside Tim Moore, Jessica Meier, Kevin Misher, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson and Jonah Hill.

Richard Jewell hits theaters on December 13, 2019.

Featured image: An image from ‘Richard Jewell.’ Courtesy Warner Bros.

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