Just one year after the release of his last work, "The Mule," 89-year-old But still has a strong creative force, Clint Eastwood has launched his latest directorial work, "The Lamentations of Richard Jewell.". The film, which has been released domestically and starring Paul Walter Hauser and Sam Rockwell, is based on a 1997 vanity Fair magazine article of the same name about Richard Jouvel, a security guard at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, who spotted a bomb in olympic park that prevented the tragedy, but was wrongly accused a few days later.
The film has been artistically processed to complete the balance between the real and the fictional, Richard from a hero to a suspect to exonerate the crime, which is based on reality, which is artistically processed, the Beijing News for you to reveal the truth and falsity of the story.
【Mother-child relationship】
Does Richard Jewell live with his mother?
He did live with his mother, Bobby Jewell, when the 1996 Olympic bombings in Atlanta occurred. Earlier, he quit his job as a police officer on the Campus of Piedmont College in Georgia and moved to his mother's apartment in Atlanta. His mother, Bobby Jewell, was undergoing foot surgery at the time. Richard, then 33, found a temporary job as a security guard at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Kathy Bates plays Richard's mother.
Did Richard and his mother Bobby really communicate with each other with notes to avoid eavesdropping?
yes. This is true of the facts. The news media stationed outside Bobby Jewell's apartment used all the tools at their disposal, including zoom lenses and radio equipment, to try to capture conversations from inside the apartment. Initially, after someone sent Bobby Jewell's phone number online, the apartment received about 1,000 calls a day.
【Park Bombing】
How many people died in the Centennial Park bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics?
Centennial Olympic Park is the center of the Olympic celebrations in Atlanta. On the evening of July 27, 1996, thousands of people gathered to enjoy the midnight concert. Richard, who worked as a security guard at the Olympics, found a green backpack under the bench after midnight containing a pipe bomb. He immediately notified the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Together with other security guards, he began clearing the area near the bomb, waiting for the bomb disposal team to remove it. Thirteen minutes later, the bomb exploded, killing one mother and another victim, a Turkish photographer, who died of a sudden heart attack while rushing to the site of the explosion. While more than 100 people were injured, Richard's actions saved many lives.
Richard evacuates the crowd at the scene of the Olympic Park bombing.
How long did it take for the real Centennial Park bomb raiders to be caught?
The real attacker, Eric Robert Rudolf, was captured 7 years later. Shortly after the Atlanta Olympic bombings, Rudolph blew up two more locations in Georgia and a clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed Birmingham police officers and part-time clinic security guard Robert Sanderson. After being hunted by the FBI, Rudolf was finally arrested on May 31, 2003, at a rural grocery store in Murphy, North Carolina, while he was rummaging through a dumpster.
【Controversy and Defamation】
How did Richard become the number one suspect in the eyes of the media?
Initially hailed as a hero who found the bomb and escorted many viewers safely, three days later, his hometown newspaper, The Constitution of Atlanta, broke the FBI with the headline "FBI Suspects Heroic Defender May Have Planted the Bomb." CNN, the Associated Press, and other news outlets covered the news verbatim, quickly spread around the world, and people's perceptions of Richard changed. The article claims that Richard fits the criminal characteristics of a "lone bomber." Just like in the movie, they portray him as a failed law enforcement officer who implants bombs so that he can spot them and play heroes. They tried to incorporate aspects of his life into the "Hero Bomber" archive, although it was later discovered that such an archive did not exist in the FBI's database at the time, an image designed to accommodate Richard. The article also compares him to convicted child murderer Wayne Williams. Similar attacks have been carried out in other media outlets. The New York Post called him "an obese, failed former sheriff representative."
Richard was surrounded by the media.
Did Richard sue the media for defaming him?
yes. He sued NBC on the grounds that NBC's Tom Brocau issued the following statement during the live broadcast: "There is speculation that the FBI is about to file charges. They may now be enough to arrest him, maybe enough to prosecute him, but if they want to have enough capacity to convict him, there are still some loopholes in this situation. NBC declined to retract Brocaux's statement, but they agreed to pay Richard $500,000. Richard also sued CNN and The New York Post, each reaching a settlement with two media outlets for an unknown amount.
Richard also filed a lawsuit against The Atlanta Constitution, which first reported that he was a suspect in the FBI. But the newspaper refused to settle, and the lawsuit lasted for years, with lawsuits continuing after Richard's death. Ultimately, the Georgia Court of Appeals dismissed the allegations in the lawsuit, saying "because these articles were largely true at the time of publication — even if investigators' suspicions were ultimately considered unfounded — they cannot form the basis of a defamation lawsuit." ”
Sam Rockwell (pictured right) plays Richard's lawyer.
【Untimely death】
Did the FBI really monitor Richard 24 hours a day?
yes. Although he was never arrested or prosecuted, the FBI searched Richard's home twice under the watchful eye of the media. They also investigated his past, asked about his acquaintances, and placed him under 24-hour surveillance.
Does Richard's friend Tim Tive take a bugging device to his house for dinner?
yes. Just like in the movie, Tavi comes to eat lasagna and discusses the explosion until late at night. It wasn't until later that he learned that Tavi was wearing a bugging device.
Has Richard been prosecuted?
No. Richard was never charged. However, the media carried out a brutal "trial" of him, and the media hyped him up and listed him as the number one suspect. As seen in the film, this ruined his reputation and damaged his professional and personal life.
Richard was questioned.
What happened to Richard in the years after the Olympic bombings?
In the years before Richard's death, as soon as he walked into the store, someone would whisper and stare at him. Even five years after the bombing, his anger at being wrongly accused remains the same. He did become a police officer in a small community in Pendgrass, Georgia, losing 65 pounds and marrying his wife Dana, who later became deputy sheriff in Melivether County, Georgia. On August 29, 2007, Richard died of heart failure due to complications of diabetes at the age of 44. His mother, Bobby Jewell, believes the stress from that incident led to his early death.
Beijing News reporter Teng Chao
Edited by Huang Jialing Proofreader Fan Jinchun