One-time Oscar winner Sam Rockwell, is in talks at Warner Bros. to star in Clint Eastwood’s developing drama ‘The Ballad of Richard Jewell’.
The project covers the story of the titular disgraced Olympic security guard who was working at the 1996 Olympic Summer Games when he discovered a backpack containing pipe and bombs and subsequently sounded the alarm and helped clear the area. However, his heroic moment was short lived as he was claimed by the FBI as suspect of the crime leading to a twice home search and the media painting him as an overweight failed cop.
88 days after the crime and detaining Jewell, who maintained his innocence throughout the period, he was finally cleared of all charges by the FBI when found innocent. But his reputation was totally ruined and health condition at risk leading to his death of a heart failure at age 44. Rockwell will play the attorney who helped clear Jewell’s innocence in America.
Leonard DiCaprio was initially tipped to play Rockwell’s new found role as the attorney and Jonas Hill to play the security guard, but both DiCaprio and Hill are going behind the cameras by serving as producers for the drama with Tim Moore, Jessica Meler, Kevin Misher and Jennifer Davisson. Billy Ray is writing the script, which will be based on Marie Brenner’s published article in Vanity Fair.
Variety reports that, the film had been under development at Fox, since 2014 and was still open to a Fox production after the Fox-Disney merger, but both parties agreed to hand over production rights to Warner Bros. after the company closed the final deal to produce the film.
Rockwell has by far being a cinema favorite for the past two years as his featured films ‘Three Billboard Outside Ebbing’ 2017 and ‘Vice 2018, fetched him an Oscar win for the former and nomination for the latter. He is currently seen playing Bob Foose on FX’s ‘Foose/Verdon.
He is repped by Gersh and Untitled.
BY: Larry Adams
