Richard Jewell is a 2019 American biographical drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood and written by Billy Ray. It is based on the 1997 Vanity Fair article “American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell” by Marie Brenner and the 2019 book The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle by Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen. The film depicts the July 27 Centennial Olympic Park bombing and its aftermath, as security guard Richard Jewell finds a bomb during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, and alerts authorities to evacuate, only to later be wrongly accused of having placed the device himself. The film stars Paul Walter Hauser as Jewell, alongside Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm, and Olivia Wilde.
The film had its world premiere on November 20, 2019, at the AFI Fest, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 13, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances (particularly Bates and Hauser) and Eastwood’s direction. It was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the ten best films of the year. However, the film was criticized for its portrayal of a real-life reporter, Kathy Scruggs. The film grossed $43 million against its $45 million budget. For her performance, Bates won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress, and earned nominations at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes.
Plot
In 1986, Richard Jewell works as an office supply clerk in a small public law firm, where he builds a rapport with attorney Watson Bryant. Jewell leaves the firm to pursue a law enforcement career. At some point Richard is hired as a sheriff’s deputy, but ends up discharged. In early 1996, he’s working as a security guard at Piedmont College, but is fired after multiple complaints of acting beyond his jurisdiction. Jewell later moves in with his mother Bobi in Atlanta. In the summer of 1996, he works as a security guard at the Olympic Games, monitoring Centennial Park.
In the early morning of July 27, 1996, after chasing off drunken revelers during a Jack Mack and the Heart Attack concert, Jewell notices a suspicious package beneath a bench, which an explosives expert confirms contains a bomb. The security team, including police officers, FBI agent Tom Shaw, and Jewell’s friend Dave Dutchess, are moving concert attendees away from the bomb when it detonates, and Jewell is initially heralded as a hero.
After being contacted by the dean of Piedmont College about his dislike and suspicions of Jewell, at Atlanta’s FBI office, Shaw and his team determine that Jewell, as a white, male, “wanna-be” police officer, fits the common profile of perpetrators committing similar crimes, comparing him to others who sought glory and attention by rescuing people from a dangerous situation they created themselves.
Shaw is approached by journalist Kathy Scruggs of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Over drinks in a cop bar, Shaw reveals that Jewell is under FBI suspicion. The Constitution publishes Scruggs’s story on the front page, disclosing the FBI’s interest in Jewell as a possible suspect. Scruggs makes particular note of Jewell’s physique, the fact he lives with his mother, and work history to reassure herself that he fits the FBI’s profile. The story quickly becomes international news.
Jewell, initially unaware of his changing public perception, is lured to the FBI office. He initially cooperates but refuses to sign an acknowledgement he has been read his Miranda rights, and instead phones Watson Bryant for legal representation. Bryant, now running his own struggling law firm, agrees and makes Jewell aware he is a prime suspect in the news.
Shaw and partner Sam Bennet visit the dean of Piedmont College, who reinforces their suspicion of Jewell. The FBI searches Jewell’s home and seize property including true crime books and a cache of firearms. Jewell admits to Bryant that he has been evading income taxes for years and was once arrested for exceeding his authority. Bryant scolds Jewell for being too collegial with the police officers investigating him. Jewell admits his ingrained respect for authority makes it difficult for him not to be deferential, even when the authorities are trying to do him harm.
Jewell and Bryant confront Scruggs, demanding a retraction and apology, but she stands by her reporting. Still not completely convinced of Jewell’s innocence, Bryant and his long-suffering secretary Nadya time the distance between the phone booth which was discovered to have made the initial threat of the bomb, and the bomb site, concluding it is impossible for someone to phone in the bomb threat and discover the bomb at the time it was found. Scruggs and Shaw have made the same conclusion, and the FBI changes their picture of the crime to include an accomplice. As their case weakens, the FBI try to link Dutchess to Jewell as a possible homosexual accomplice.
Bryant arranges a polygraph examination which Jewell passes, removing Bryant’s doubt about his innocence. Bobi holds a press conference and pleas for the investigation to cease so she and her son may get on with their lives. Jewell and Bryant meet with Shaw and Bennet at the FBI office, and after some irrelevant questions, Jewell realizes they have no evidence against him. When he asks pointedly if they are ready to charge him, their silence convinces him to leave, finally having lost his sense of awe for law enforcement officers.
Eighty-eight days after being named “a person of interest”, Jewell is informed by formal letter that he is no longer under investigation.
In April 2005, Jewell, now a police officer in Luthersville, Georgia, is visited by Bryant who tells him that Eric Rudolph has confessed to the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.
An epilogue states that two years later, on August 29, 2007, Jewell died at the age of 44 of complications from diabetes and heart failure. It also mentions that Bryant and Nadya got married and had two sons, both of whom Bobi babysits to this day.
Cast
Paul Walter Hauser as Richard “Radar” Jewell
Sam Rockwell as Attorney Watson Bryant
Kathy Bates as Barbara “Bobi” Jewell
Jon Hamm as FBI Agent Tom Shaw (composite character)
Olivia Wilde as Kathy Scruggs
Nina Arianda as Nadya
Ian Gomez as FBI Agent Dan Bennet
Dylan Kussman as FBI Special Agent Bruce Hughes
Mike Pniewski as Brandon Hamm
Niko Nicotera as Dave Dutchess
Eric Mendenhall as Eric Rudolph
Ronnie Allen as Kenny Rogers
Wayne Duvall as polygraph examiner
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