Spoilers Galore: Fact versus Fiction Spanning Director Clint Eastwood's "Richard Jewell"

At the world premiere of "Richard Jewell" held Nov. 20 at AFI Fest, audiences finally experienced the dramatic screenplay penned by Billy Ray.

As the credits rolled, director Clint Eastwood's work aptly earned a 30-second ovation.

In the month since, more than 700 readers clicked on the first review published by an Atlanta-based outlet (this site).

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) was the only other Georgia outlet with writers on the scene in Hollywood, and their review appeared a few days later, no doubt enjoying thousands more clicks.

Regardless, a scoop is a scoop, yes?

A cavalcade of critical and fan reviews -- generally skewing positive -- followed since, and many folks professional or otherwise are writing and discussing what Eastwood and Ray got right or wrong in "Richard Jewell." As noted in my review, one factor that makes a film great is its ability to inspire conversation -- this release definitely does just that.

What follows is a working list of "Fact versus Fiction Spanning Clint Eastwood's 'Richard Jewell'" compiled from attending the film twice, once in LA, again opening day (Dec. 13) in Atlanta.

The below list also relies on numerous third-party sources including several interviews, public events, and thorough examination of the film's two main sources. I'm saving my conversations with Mr. Eastwood and the film's star, Paul Walter Hauser, for another post.

Ray's source material included a 22-page Vanity Fair article written by Marie Brenner, who embedded with Jewell's legal team for several weeks in 1997. On Dec. 10, Simon & Schuster re-released "A Private War" -- a collection of Brenner's essays -- under the updated title "Richard Jewell and Other Tales of Heroes, Scoundrels, and Renegades" ($17).

Ray also relied upon a new book optioned for the film, "The Suspect" by Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen (Abrams Books, $28), an excellent narrative nonfiction work reviewed here. The authors took inspiration from other well-written nonfiction works including "Devil In The White City" and "The Boys In The Boat," the latter a Games-centric book.

Fan-designed lapel pin

In broad strokes, much of the "Richard Jewell" screenplay plays true to real-life challenges faced by Jewell (Hauser), his mother Bobi (Kathy Bates), and his legal team.

The production achieved great authenticity by filming at actual locations of 1996 events, notably Centennial Olympic Park, which set designers researched at the Atlanta History Center, later decking out the park with excellent attention to detail.

On the other end of the spectrum, Ray was most loose with his characterization and the on screen actions of reporter Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde). Ray defended his work to a reporter at Deadline.com on the eve of the film's wide release.

More detailed facts and fictions, or liberties taken, including several spoilers for both the film and the book "The Suspect," are presented here as a working list generally in order from the start to finish of the 129 minute film. As this is a working list compiled and posted Dec. 15, 2019, I will offset additions or edits with the date of an addition or strikethroughs for corrections:

• Jewell did work at the U.S. Small Business Administration in downtown Atlanta. It is not clear to me if 75 Spring Street, the address cited in the film (Richard B. Russell Federal Building) was the SBA address in 1986. SBA is now at Peachtree Center.
• Jewell earned the nickname "Radar" after a "M*A*S*H" character thanks to his reputation for anticipating the needs of coworkers, including real-life SBA lawyer G. Watson Bryant.
  
• The character Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell) is a mashup of several Jewell legal team members; in the words of one film consultant, "No one wanted to watch a movie with a bunch of lawyers."
• CNN Center, which is not far from the Russell Building, did have an arcade frequented by Jewell and Bryant. But according to "The Suspect" their games of choice were Galaxian and Xevious rather than Turkey Shoot as seen in the film.
• Snickers candy bars were a favorite of Jewell, according to "The Suspect."
• Jewell exited SBA due to government cutbacks, but he quickly found work as a retail security guard, an early step in his progression toward law enforcement career goals.
• Jewell did eventually work at Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga. Busting students for drinking on campus, and stopping drivers off-campus, did lead to his invitation to resign or be fired. In real life, according to "The Suspect," he opted to resign at the behest of his campus police boss, not the university president. This was Jewell's second "forced resignation" in North Georgia.
• Jewell's real-life friend Dave Dutchess (Niko Nicotera), who first appears in the shooting range scene and returns late in the film, met Jewell during his SBA days. The real Dutchess is 10 years Jewell's senior ("The Suspect").
• Kathy Scruggs was the lead AJC police beat reporter. Her Games-time assignment was sharing the Olympic security beat with colleague Ron Martz,

  

  Actual AJC badge of '96

  and the overall AJC Olympic reporting team worked in a special non-sports coverage group for Security, Neighborhoods and Olympic Transportation, a.k.a. "SNOTpod" ("The Suspect").
• The AJC's office at the time was 72 Marietta Street, around the corner from the park. Footage of the building's exterior and signage, later in the film, is likely from 1996.
• Scruggs was known in the newsroom for salty language and provocative attire, which one former AJC colleague described to me with the pejorative nickname "K-mart Scruggs"
• Scruggs and Martz (David Shae) did not bump into each other and compare notes near the park on or around either concert as shown in the film. It's also unlikely Scruggs connected with one of her sources during "Macarena" line dancing. Martz's sarcastic "scoop" about a cop's relation to an Olympian is also likely fiction.
• The FBI agent portrayed by Jon Hamm has a fictional name. Another mashup character, he is closest to resembling the actual agent named Don Johnson, according to "The Suspect."
• The opening ceremony footage is real and was provided by the Clinton Presidential Library and/or International Olympic Committee, according to the film's credits.
  
• AT&T was the sponsor of the main concert stage at Centennial Olympic Park. It was branded "Global Olympic Village" which caused some confusion in early reports of the bombing (some reporters stated the athletes' Olympic Village at nearby Georgia Tech was the attack site).
• The footage of children playing in the Olympic rings fountain is real but filmed years after 1996 as the skyscraper section of the Omni Hotel at CNN Center, which appears in the background, opened in 2003.
• Kenny Rogers did perform at the park, and his show took place earlier in the week, according to "The Suspect." The Rogers impersonator on screen is Ronnie Allen, according to the film credits and IMBD. Jewell's mother, Bobi, did attend the concert.
• It is possible the end-of-concert fireworks and skyline footage is from 1996, but more likely filmed in summer 2019.
• At least one of the Olympic pins briefly spotted in the park sequence resembles a design for the 1996 Olympin collectors club member badge. Other pins seen later in Jewell's scrapbook are mostly generic USA patriotic designs, or what appears to be a fictional mascot pin (not close to the actual '96 mascot Izzy).
• All of the Centennial Olympic logos, from street banners to posters (at on screen restaurants

  

  Movie set street banner

  and the AJC newsroom), to would-be athlete uniforms donned by a group thanking Jewell, are fictional prop pieces. More notes on this appear in this summer post.
• Jewell kept a cooler of cold water and Cokes for fellow guards and bystanders ("The Suspect").
• The portrayal of the beer-drinking teens, as well as the dialogue Jewell and police shared once the bomb backpack was spotted, is nearly verbatim from the prologue to "The Suspect" though names of officers and bystanders are changed or omitted.
• One of the teenagers did tip the Alice pack onto its back, which made the blast propel nails skyward rather than into the crowd. Pieces were found as far away as the eighth-level rooftop of the neighboring INFORUM building, one of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) office locations. In present day, the building is branded for tenant American Cancer Society.
• NationsBank Plaza, now named Bank of America Plaza, one of the city's tallest buildings, appears in the background. During summer 1996, its neighboring skyscraper BellSouth Tower (now AT&T) was decked out with pink and yellow neon, strobe lights and laser flashers not portrayed in the film.
• Once a bomb tech peered into the backpack planted by Eric Rudolph, law enforcement and Jewell did start clearing the area, and Jewell ran through the sound an light tower pulling out staff. He was in a "safe zone" guarded from the blast, which knocked him off his feet.
• The film gets the numbers right in terms of injuries and victims
• In the IMDB cast list the lone victim of the blast is named "woman in park" seen taking photos

  

  View from INFORUM rooftop 7/27/96

  with "girl in park." The real-life person was Alice Hawthorne, who died as a result of her injuries. This AJC interview by Shelia Poole sheds light on what happened to her surviving daughters and other family members.
• Another casualty of the event, a camera operator from Turkey who had a heart attack, is not portrayed on screen.
• The fan-shaped sculpture, installed at the park for the '96 Games, was damaged by the hail of nails. At least one hot nail seared into the copper surface of the artwork is still visible in 2019.
• In real life, Scruggs was nowhere near the park when the bomb exploded. She was asleep in north Atlanta and did not hear/check her beeper until the following morning. Mortified, she raced downtown to start research on the attack, according to "The Suspect."
• As the actual Scruggs was asleep, the scene of Scruggs (Wilde) and Martz praying for a great scoop obviously never happened.
• Jewell did have a team of publicists from AT&T and their PR agency, Cohn & Wolfe, helping to book interviews for the hero. This team appears as one mashup character named Tim Barker (Billy Slaughter).
• The Katie Couric "TODAY" interview is an abbreviated version of the actual interview with Jewell. But this interview took place not on the morning after the bombing; rather, the following Tuesday (hours before Jewell's FBI interview). Not portrayed in the film: A series of CNN studio appearances and phone interviews with USA Today and an AJC intern ("The Suspect").
• A book deal offer did inspire Jewell to track down his lawyer friend Watson.
• The FBI did respond to tips provided by Piedmont College and other former employers who expressed concerns about Jewell's overzealous, attention-seeking behavior (Brenner and "The Suspect").
• As portrayed on screen, in 1996 a Centennial Park acquaintance (a Georgia Bureau of Investigation officer) was recruited by the FBI to wear a wire and quiz Jewell over a lasagna dinner prepared by Richard in the apartment he shared with Bobi ("The Suspect").
• There was an FBI Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) document that quickly took shape as the bombing investigation rolled through its first 72 hours. Though the film is slightly off in its timeline and players who shared this report, the film is accurate in that it eventually outlined a Jewell-specific profile ("The Suspect").
• According to numerous AJC columns and reports quoting the current AJC editor, conversations
  
  with former editors and colleagues, and facts presented in "The Suspect" and Brenner's piece, it is highly unlikely if not entirely false that Scruggs offered or traded sex for the source confirming her scoop about Jewell. Screenwriter Ray took the greatest liberties with this portrayal in the script. Bert Roughton, now retired from the AJC, explained his version of the timeline in "The Suspect" and at an Atlanta History Center book launch event held Nov. 12 reported here. These details presented in the book also negate the on-screen scenes of Wilde, as Scruggs, whispering her scoop to Martz.
• Scruggs never hid in the back seat of the lawyers' cars (fictional for dramatic effect).
• According to former AJC "PeachBuzz" reporter Richard Eldredge, who posted a film review on his site EldredgeATL.com, there was no "Scruggs celebration" of the scoop in the newsroom. Newsroom applause instead remained in reserve for days when the newspaper and its reporters won Pulitzer Prizes, according to AJC '96 features editor-turned-freelance film critic Wendell Brock's review published the day of the film's release.
• The FBI did entice Jewell to be interviewed under the "training video" ruse, and it worked until FBI Director Louis Freeh called from Washington, D.C., demanding agents to read Miranda Rights. This scenario was condensed by screenwriter Ray for dramatic effect ("The Suspect").
• The AJC afternoon edition breaking the news about Jewell did not run until after the AJC editors held the story for more than 24 hours and they read the story to the FBI communications director, who verified its accuracy and that publishing the news would not hinder the investigation. This is according to "The Suspect" and comments made by Roughton at book events or by phone/email with me since his summer column published in the AJC.
• CNN ran a live segment and read/held up the AJC headline on live TV as portrayed. This happened during Jewell's FBI interview and was the prompt for Freeh, watching live in Washington, to call the Atlanta bureau in regards to Miranda Rights ("The Suspect").
• Unlike his on-screen portrayal, Jewell did sign a document regarding his Miranda Rights while awaiting a callback from his attorney. A copy of the document appears on the back endpapers of "The Suspect."
• Jewell did call Bryant's office from the FBI bureau. Watson did not return the call from the
  
  office; rather, he called from his SUV after his assistant, Nadya (Nina Arianda), and he read the AJC during an afternoon as Olympic spectators. Bryant did curse out the FBI. ("The Suspect")
• The Motorola-designed gray plastic cell phones used as props for Wilde and others were more accurate than the early 2000s flip phone prop held by Hauser in multiple scenes of Jewell placing calls.
• The scene of Bobi and Richard watching Tom Brokaw (actual NBC footage in film) is mostly accurate though was as upsetting for Richard as his mother (Brenner)
• The attorney's live TV interview with MSNBC's Bryant Gumbel (Garon Grigsby) is abbreviated but draws inspiration from the actual interview.
• The film portrays Bryant and Nadya walking the phone booth to park route, and later Scruggs doing this as well, to determine Jewell could not have placed the 9-1-1 call. But it reality it was an AJC reporter, Bill Rankin, who did this research, according to this report by AJC columnist Bill Torpy. Independent of the AJC research, CNN also had a reporter conduct this research, according to comments made by former CNN executive Tom Johnson during a Dec. 9 book event hosted by the Atlanta Press Club. The AJC and CNN timelines of their parallel efforts will appear on a separate post.
  
• Jewell did offer "take the carpet" when the FBI extracted evidence from his residence.
• Bobi Jewell did get upset the FBI confiscated her prized Tupperware collection they later ruined with Sharpie ink (Brenner).
• The scene during which the FBI dupes Jewell into recording Rudolph's 9-1-1 call script never happened. Jewell's legal team prevented this voice sample from ever taking place (Brenner).
• Dutchess was questioned by the FBI, but not in Georgia (instead, West Virginia).
• The scene of Bryant and Jewell confronting Scruggs in the AJC newsroom is completely
  
  fiction. Jewell was not face to face with Scruggs until years later in lawsuit-related deposition. The AJC's downtown office was secure, not configured to allow access for visitors to "barge in" and confront reporters.
• The reel of President Clinton on newsroom TV (behind Rockwell and Hauser) is actual footage from hours following the bombing.
• Jewell did take a polygraph and pass with the highest rating for "no deception" detected (Brenner)
  
• Jewell and his legal team did visit the FBI office in October 1996, and Jewell explained his comments predicting Atlanta's messy traffic, as shown on screen (Brenner). This meeting involved a different cast of individuals than portrayed on screen, but Jewell did explain his upset stomach before the bombing, and his admiration for his assigned guard spot as "a sweet site" to admire women (Brenner).
• Jewell did speak of his innocence at the FBI meeting, but Ray embellished the content of Jewell's response to create his "speech" to agents (Brenner).
• The contents of the Jewell apartment took hours to collect but only five minutes to return ("The Suspect").
• Jewell did receive a letter from the FBI declaring he was no longer a suspect. As shown in the film, the letter was signed by Kent Alexander, then U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, now co-author of "The Suspect" The letter was not delivered by an agent nor at a
  
  diner, as portrayed with Hamm. Alexander handed the letter to a Jewell attorney not portrayed on screen. 
• There was a heavily attended press conference hosted by Jewell's legal team, with Bobi Jewell speaking -- inspiration for Kathy Bates' script during this emotional scene of the film. Screenwriter Ray lifted direct quotes from Bobi's remarks, but shortened them and changed the order. Verbatim quotes, as noted in "The Suspect" include:

"The media has portrayed my son as the person who committed this crime. They have taken all privacy from us, they have taken all peace. I do not think any of you can begin to imagine what our lives are like. My son is innocent. Mr. President, please clear my son's name."

• Jewell did move on from the 1996-1997 events to become a police officer in North Georgia. The film did not mention several colorful and touching moments of his latter years, including meeting his wife, and saving another life, as noted in "The Suspect."
• "The Suspect" also secured THE SCOOP on Scruggs' informant; you'll have to read the book to learn who it was, as the AJC never revealed her source.

Image of "Fact versus Fiction" from this site. Stills from "Richard Jewell" via Warner Bros. Park site from INFORUM vantage via Getty. Park banner and Scruggs I.D. photos by Nicholas Wolaver. Ali and Evans image via Janet Evans' Twitter account and Today.com (likely a wire service or IOC photo).