Golden Anniversary Atlanta Film Festival Features Two Olympic-Tethered Films + Coffee's For Closers!

Three cheers as the 50th Atlanta Film Festival kicks off today, celebrating five decades of movies and Georgia's storied history, present and future with broadcast and big screen entertainment.

A couple of months ago, it was delightful to learn from ATLFF 50 Executive Director Christopher Escobar, who also champions the historic Plaza Theatre and Tara Atlanta cinemas (the latter a former pro-bono client), that one of this year's festival special presentation screenings is Clint Eastwood's compelling "Richard Jewell" starring Paul Walter Hauser as the doppelganger of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing hero-turned-suspect. 

If you're local and didn't already see "Richard Jewell" around its Dec. 2019 debut, the April 25 presentation at The Plaza is worth a look. 

Bonus: Hauser and others with the film, including one of the authors of "The Suspect" on which the screenplay was partially based, are slated to participate in a post-screening Q&A.

Another Olympic-tethered title also enjoys its Southern debut via ATLFF, with the new doc "The Brittney Griner Story" slated for a May 2 presentation at Tara. I'm still digesting some of the reports from the world premiere and Sundance, and the ESPN Films PR team is mum about filmmaker or the star athlete's potential attendance at the screening. 

I've been keenly interested in speaking with Griner for years, as I was also in the same Moscow airport the week of her arrest there, and her Olympic feats are amazing.

Other ATLFF 50 events that piqued my interest include:

• 
  Current client Mark Mori's feature doc "Baristas vs Billionaires" concerning the earliest days of Starbucks Workers United and the uphill battle they've waged, including their recent record-setting national strike. My engagement as the film's publicist began in the weeks before the film's world premiere at the Buffalo International Film Festival, at which contributing producer Alec
  "Coffee's for Closers!" Baldwin participated. The film's Georgia premiere was reported by GPB Radio, Rough Draft, Saporta Report and Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- please join us at Tara April 28
  
• Mori's first film, the Oscar-nominated doc "Building Bombs," opened the 1989 Atlanta Film & Video Festival (now ATLFF) and recently enjoyed a 4K restoration to debut at Tara April 28
• Another Legacy Screening, this time for 2007's futuristic "Blood Car." Have neither seen nor heard of it but the film's poster image of an axe-wielding driver and his scantily clad female passenger on the chase did catch my eye (The Plaza May 3)
• The filmed in Georgia world premiere of the narrative feature "THIRD" regarding what appears to be a new twist on a love triangle (at Tara April 24)
• "Carolina Caroline" as a crime/romance that, at a glance, smacks of "Natural Born Killers" vibe (Tara May 1)
• "B.F. Skinner Plays Himself" feature doc on the researcher much studied before my psychology major GPA got nuked by statistics class grades (C's and D's) at Minnesota State (The Plaza April 24).

This year's festival is much calmer for this publicist, blogger and film enthusiast as last year around this time we were deep in preparation for the ATLFF world premiere of "The Games in Black & White," a client film enabling my first IMDB credit but more importantly forged four Southeast Emmy nominations for Atlanta Story Partners filmmakers George Hirthler and Bob Judson, who teamed up much like their subjects Ambassador Andrew Young and Billy Payne. 

Their unlikely partnership to successfully bid for and deliver the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games is a most interesting and entertaining five-ringed treat, which also includes numerous Olympians and Olympic Family members. 

The film team is eager for the Emmy winner announcement on May 16 (to tide me over, the media relations for the film recently picked up a Georgia PRSA Phoenix Award and two ICey Independent PR Counselor certificates). 

Back to the Atlanta Film Festival, the Atlanta Film Society also presents its annual fundraiser the 2026 IMAGE Film Awards honoring seven individuals and organizations for their outstanding contributions to filmmaking in Georgia. This year's recipients include Oscar-nominee Josh Brolin, Primetime Emmy Winner Carrie Preston, BET Awards winner Will Packer, two-time Grammy-nominated comedian David Cross, Hilton Howell, Alex Orr and the team behind George Entertainment. All gala proceeds benefit the Atlanta Film Society's year-round mission and their presentation of the 50th Atlanta Film Festival.

Check out the full schedule, badge options, tickets, parties and more via the Atlanta Film Festival website. Hope to see you at the movies. 

ATLFF 50 T-Shirt via the festival; "The Brittney Griner Story" via ESPN Films and Sundance

Atlanta History Center Opens Signature Exhibition Framing Atlanta's '96 Olympic Journey and Legacy

On Sept. 18, the 30th anniversary of Atlanta winning its bid to host the Centennial Olympic Games, the Atlanta History Center welcomed visitors to the museum's newest signature exhibition "Atlanta '96: Shaping An Olympic & Paralympic City." 

Atlanta History Center

An update in the making for multiple years since the previous Olympic section closed to accommodate the center's excellent Cyclorama installation,    I enjoyed a five-ringed sneak peek on Sept. 15. 

After additional visits on both    opening day and Sept. 19, and more than two months of percolating on observations, the new space remains at once pleasing and perplexing for this blogger. Here's a video the museum posted to describe the experience. 

What follows is a blend of the good stuff (the exhibition is definitely worth a special visit) and items I think would help improve on a solid presentation. 

New surprises and what I liked:

- Clean and classy lines of the timeline displays with the Modern Games' and Atlanta's history on parallel tracks from 1896 to 1996 and beyond

- Views of the original mock-up for Atlanta's hardbound bid publication, reminiscent of Miranda Priestley's dummy magazine copy known as "The Book" in "The Devil Wears Prada"

- First look at a rare, custom-designed Cabbage Patch Doll with pin stripe suit and leather briefcase presented to voting members of the International Olympic Committee

- The impressive hand-painted original model for architect Siah Armajiani's Olympic Bridge and Cauldron, a functional sculpture that did not reach the potential of its sister structure in Minneapolis

- Original artwork -- a massive, colorful canvas -- painted by the athletes of the XXVIth Olympiad in the athlete village at Georgia Tech

- Discovering one extremely rare "Olympic Quilter" pin given to the artisans who stitched up content for the Cultural Olympiad. An equally rare prototype or unreleased pin featuring mascot Izzy carrying a Georgia state flag (circa 1996) also took me by surprise

- First look at the set of custom miner's lamps used to transport the Olympic flame from Greece and to many points across the U.S. during the epic 1996 Olympic Torch Relay

- One of the authentic "Info '96" interactive kiosks touting IBM technology and the first official website for a host city

- Displays about important community leaders and the regional causes they championed, providing context for the against-all-odds proposal the Atlanta bid team brought to the city during the later 1980s

- Touchless interactive video players that "talk to the hand" of visitors who wave or make fists to select and play archived content (perhaps the state's first museum to use this technology)

Atlanta History Center

- New and more detailed information about the Shepherd Center and its role, along with the Atlanta Paralympic Organizing Committee (APOC) to secure the Paralympics' parallel journey with each Olympiad since

- All of the feels from viewing footage of Olympic champions' "one moment in time"

- An oversized photo of my longtime friend and mentor cheering at Underground Atlanta moments after IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch announced the Games are awarded to the city of ... At-lan-ta!

What I miss (or hope they'll bring back over time):

- Video of the aforementioned announcement by J.A. Samaranch, a glaring omission given the local-to-global impact of that moment in the arc of Olympic and the city's history (others alive in 1990 still get goosebumps and sentimental tears watching that Tokyo moment -- am I right?). This, for me, was the biggest "duh!" oversight that could have easily appeared as it did in the previous Olympic section. Why leave out one of the city's proudest, most historic and gleeful moments captured on global news broadcast by hometown network CNN? My only guess is this has to do with exhibition planning by folks who themselves were not eyewitness to Atlanta's global debut that even included the Atlanta History Center in the official bid video

- More of the 1988 to 1990 Atlanta bid mementos (specifically the rarest of the "Circle of A's" bid pins in the form of a gold, silver or pewter women's brooch). A lot of space was used to create a map of bid cities, but the pins incorporated are 'meh' while their collection likely has other hidden gems in storage

- Any one of the Olympic Orders presented to Atlanta organizers (these are the rarest of Olympic honors, and Billy Payne's is apparently on loan, but what about Ambassador Andrew Young's?). Even the Yeltsin Presidential Center in Yekaterinburg, Russia, displays their hometown hero Boris' Olympic Order! (In that nation's language the translation of "duh" is "да" or "yes!")

- The complete (or nearly complete) collection of summer Olympic torches, another rare bragging opportunity in storage (to the Atlanta History Center's credit, they do display several summer Games torches). I learned they may not have one of the rarest summer torches, but even a "complete collection minus one" or "complete collection*" with a asterisk would be marvelous. This link includes a photo of the previous museum torch display that's now history. 

- The museum's signed version of "Summon The Heroes" sheet music autographed by Oscar and Grammy-winning composer John Williams (back in storage?)

- Touchless database of 1996 Olympians (or at least the medal winners). Bonus option would be a database of all the volunteers listed in the margins of every page of the Games' "Official Report"

- The model of the Atlanta Olympic Village that was on view for years (including many months of pre-installation of the new signature exhibition). This could easily fit inside the "glass fence" protecting the enormous athlete-painted canvas, complementing the Olympic Stadium model only steps away. By the way, athletes added to the painting in the "international zone" of the Village (the model portrays this zone).

Also missing are obvious photo opp or selfie-bait spots on which to stand atop the medals podium or hold a '96 torch. This could be easily remedied with a life-sized cutout of any torchbearer or moving a medals podium from storage to the ample corridor facing the exhibition. 

From my view, with only 2,600 square feet available, too much space is filled with anti-Games elements. I liked a look at the successful efforts of few in response to Cobb County government, but did it deserve as much square footage as a nearby Cultural Olympiad showcase? It is important to acknowledge this history, of course, but do visitors need floor-to-ceiling displays on the movements that rode the Games' coattails? (Answer: I don't think so.)

And while another rafters-to-carpet photo shows group prayers in the wake of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, visitors almost need a magnifying glass to find mention of Richard Jewell, whose image does not appear anywhere in spite of saving countless lives (this feels like another missed opportunity to reshape incorrect history). But, hey, the protesters who got the Games out of Cobb County are heroes, too. Their photo does appear.  

The bottom line is the Atlanta History Center's new signature Olympic exhibition marches to its own drum where other Games museums stick more to a traditional sports museum format. 

With that stated, in spite of a few missed beats, five-ringed fans should check it out. For those who cannot get enough of Atlanta's Olympic history, you may enjoy a trio of thorough blog posts about the Atlanta Games by Sarah Dylla, who worked hard and delivered the points to ponder in this five-ringed exhibition. Dylla also shared more in a conversation aired on WABE-FM's "City Lights with Lois Reitzes." Visit AtlantaHistoryCenter.com or call 404-814-4000 for ticket and other visitor information. 

Photo credits: Atlanta History Center where noted. All other images by Nicholas Wolaver. 

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).

Forgoing Myths of Earlier Films, Clint Eastwood Directs [Mostly] True Story of ’96 Olympic Hero

When the film “Richard Jewell” opens at theatres next month, audiences may enter the experience informed by the Warner Bros. tag line: The World Will Know His Name And The Truth.

When moviegoers exit the two-hour-nine-minute drama—stylishly directed by Clint Eastwood—ticket holders will be mulling over a mostly factual version of the Centennial Olympic Park security guard’s life before, during and after the ’96 Games of Atlanta. 

Jewell gets a fair treatment in this portrayal sure to aptly tilt the narrative to the ‘hero’ end of the opinion spectrum. He saved countless lives July 27, 1996, and deserves this history-correcting dramatization for a humble Georgia do-gooder whom heroically "done good."

“Richard Jewell” is a great film, built upon a solid foundation of heavily researched source material and adorned with many merits. 

Its solid cast and acting, strong writing, impactful scenes with attention to detail (though not always historically accurate), and a soothing albeit minimalist soundtrack combine for an entertaining photoplay sure to get folks talking.

Screenwriter Billy Ray relied heavily on Marie Brenner’s Vanity Fair 1997 article on Jewell, which will soon be reappear in a Simon & Schuster-published collection of the reporter's works timed for release with the film. 

Ray also pulled countless details from the new Abrams Press book “The Suspect” by Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen (reviewed here).

With these and other factually rich and thoroughly vetted sources in Ray’s reach, it is curious, but not entirely surprising, the screenwriter embellished some facts and rearranged the timeline “for dramatic effect” in his creative process. More about that later in this review, and in this “Richard Jewell: Fact vs. Fiction” summary (beware of spoilers in both posts).

Accuracy debates aside, is “Richard Jewell” destined for awards nominations? Absolutely.

Will it win a bevy of these honors? Maybe.

Leonardo DiCaprio, an executive producer on “Richard Jewell” originally envisioned for the attorney role later filled by Sam Rockwell, may prove a topsy-turvy awards rival via “One Upon A Time … In Hollywood.” 

I cannot help but think 2019 blockbusters “Us” or “The Joker” and “Ad Astra” would sideline this five-ringed film in several categories, but Eastwood could be a home run candidate for “Best Director.” With that stated, even the film "Booksmart" (directed by Olivia Wilde, a star in "Richard Jewell") may outsmart Eastwood as the awards season unfolds. 

When compared with Clint’s other directorial works, “Richard Jewell” deserves placement in the top ten, maybe even the top five, but not as the crown of his long list of his many achievements. 

“Richard Jewell” does mark a return to Eastwood greatness not seen since “Million Dollar Baby” and “Mystic River,” but still plays loose with facts (as mentioned above), including some Olympic details, as in his more recent “American Sniper.”

Regardless of its rank in the Eastwood cannon, I enjoyed “Richard Jewell” and found it a powerful film, providing a thick and flavorful steak for audiences to dissect and savor. The film proves informative for all ticket holders, whether they were part of the Atlanta Games or learning about the park-related events for the first time.

On some fronts, “Richard Jewell” is a thriller, but like other Eastwood-directed films, inclusive of slow burns punctuated by occasional moments of intensity, which I think will resonate with a wide audience.

In the title role, Paul Walter Hauser vividly and effectively portrays the anti-machismo of Jewell, whose idiosyncrasies may one day resonate like the title character of “The Outlaw Josey Wales" or any one of the Western’s quirkier roles. It is fun to see Hauser in the lead on the heels of his cameo in “BlacKkKlansman.”

Perhaps prophetically for Hauser, a Jay Leno one-liner about the real guard-turned-suspect proved predictive about the actor. In 1996, the comedian joked that Jewell resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s fumbling attacker, a role Hauser brought to life as Shawn Eckhardt in “I, TONYA.” “What is it about the Olympic Games that brings out big, fat, stupid guys?” quipped Leno. 

Hauser plays it big and smart. 

Another key “Richard Jewell” strength is the film’s very authentic recreation of Centennial Olympic Park as it appeared during Games time. Little touches, like kids playing in the Olympic Rings fountain and huddled around a bag of lapel pins for trading, made me smile.

On a more somber note, the countdown to the explosion is one of the best scenes in any Clint Eastwood film, or any recent action film period. The arresting detonation feels real and the Dolby surround-sound and visuals left my heart pounding while my breath involuntarily joined the audible gasp filling the packed theatre. The blast had a way of making the audience jump as they did when Anne Archer uncapped a boiling pot of water in “Fatal Attraction.”

I liked that in lieu of gore, Eastwood and editors showed the injured bombing victims, and emergency workers tending to them, in a tasteful and artistic manner. There’s a personal moment with the mortally wounded Alice Hawthorne, the bomb’s lone fatality, but no mention of a Turkish camera operator who died of a heart attack on the scene.

Pooling blood, oozed into engraved names on Olympic park bricks, leaves no doubt how much worse the attack could have been if not for Jewell and other guards’ brave and swift response.  

Moments earlier, audiences are introduced to an FBI agent (Jon Hamm), as well as the tough-as-nails chain-smoking crime reporter for the hometown Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Kathy Scruggs (Wilde), who has all the moxie of Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane with blond hair, a taste for bourbon and a head-turning frankness that rubbed many the wrong way.

Sidebar: In “The Suspect,” colleagues and family share a more balanced view of Scruggs, taken at times to a crass extreme on screen, perhaps the Achilles’ heel of this otherwise great film.

From the morning after the explosion, the film quickly unleashes the fury of the FBI and media attention that overtook the Jewell household—Richard lived with his mother, Bobi (Kathy Bates)—after Scruggs got the Olympic-sized scoop from a source naming Richard the prime suspect.

Controversial and heavy-handed maneuvers by federal investigators, and the world’s media, foreshadow the worst versions of social media hurricanes to which the world’s grown accustomed.  

On the lighter side, the film also offers many subtle and surprise laughs, and the portrayal of Nadya (Nina Arianda), the Russian-born assistant to one of Jewell's attorneys, and their flirtatious banter got the loudest chuckles (unexpected fun, yes / неожиданное веселье, да). 

Some may wonder whether Mars, Inc., payed for product placement of Snickers candy bars, which often provided comic relief that satisfies. Perhaps the best line arrives as a reference to, or later resolution of, the film's own version of a quid pro quo.

There are tender moments of Jewell the individual and of Jewell with his mother, or his attorney (Sam Rockwell, performing a mash up of multiple real-life attorneys blended by Ray). I don’t think these are Oscar-level performance for Bates or Rockwell, but both play it strong, lending depth to what Eastwood described as “the perfect cast” during his remarks before the lights dimmed at the world premiere (more about the scene at AFI Fest in this post).

This is not the first Eastwood film in which the screenwriter took liberties with facts, inserting some five-ringed fiction during the creative writing process. For "American Sniper" there was no 'Olympic shooter from Syria' (a fact verified in writing, debunking Eastwood and screenwriter Jason Hall, creating the most popular topic in 10 years of writing this blog).

“Richard Jewell” plays it loose with its timeline, but mostly about Scruggs. For instance, according to scenes in "The Suspect" Jewell and his lawyers only met the reporter in years-later legal proceedings, never through impromptu visits to the newsroom, obviously added for dramatic embellishment.

The film is loosest when portraying tactics Scruggs used for reporting and getting 'the scoop' involving Jewell. Did she trade sex for the source of a suspect in real life? Probably not. 

Regardless, a steamy bar scene for Wilde and Hamm likely (and unfairly) will lead many to that conclusion.

I am eager to screen “Richard Jewell” again soon (for this critic, an eagerness to quickly repeat a screening is the fifth tenet of a great film after acting, writing, impact and soundtrack) to see if the world premiere version included the complete score composed by Arturo Sandoval, who previously collaborated with Eastwood for "The Mule."

Unlike other music-rich Eastwood releases, the Nov. 20 version of “Richard Jewell,” which may have been only hours old from a near final edit, had such a sparse soundtrack, I cannot help but wonder if more score will be added before the Dec. 13 worldwide release.

With all due respect to Kenny Rogers and Los del Río, whose respective hits “The Gambler” and “Macarena” appear in early Centennial Olympic Park scenes, the soundtrack is otherwise so minimalist the Sandoval music seemed barely there until the final credits.

Some lucky Atlantans will get an advance peek at "Richard Jewell" when its local premiere takes place Dec. 10. 

For everyone else looking for a great film, mark calendars for Dec. 13, when the world will at last enjoy a (re-)introduction to an unsung Olympic hero. 

First image via Avcesar.com from their trailer screen grab via Warner Bros. All other images from various websites which enjoyed access I don't have to the media log-in pages of Warner Bros. (in spite of multiple requests via their press office pages).