Clint Eastwood takes aim at the US government and the media in first ‘Richard Jewell’ trailer

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

The world was first introduced to Richard Jewell as the security guard who reported finding a device at the 1996 Atlanta bombing—his report made him a hero whose swift actions saved countless lives. But within days, the law enforcement wannabe became the FBI’s number one suspect. Vilified by press and public alike, his life was ripped apart. Reaching out to independent, anti-establishment attorney Watson Bryant, Jewell staunchly professed 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.

Directed by Clint Eastwood and based on true events, Richard Jewell is a story of what happens when what is reported as fact obscures the truth.

“His accusers are two of the most powerful forces in the world; the United States government and the media”

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.

Eastwood’s creative team includes director of photography Yves Bélanger and production designer Kevin Ishioka, along with longtime costume designer Deborah Hopper and Oscar-winning editor Joel Cox (Unforgiven), who have worked with Eastwood throughout the years on numerous projects. The music is by Arturo Sandoval, who scored 2018’s The Mule.

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents a Malpaso Production, an Appian Way/Misher Films/75 Year Plan Production, Richard Jewell. The film will be in theaters on December 13, 2019 and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Here is the first trailer.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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