Posted on 05/03/2016 7:11:43 AM PDT by Western Phil
On the heels of actor Will Ferrell pulling out of a planned "Alzheimer's comedy" about Ronald Reagan comes news that Hollywood is preparing a feature film about late Senator Ted Kennedy and the drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick.
Australian-born "Zero Dark Thirty" star Jason Clarke will portray Kennedy in "Chappaquiddick" — the film's working title — and John Curran, whose credits include "The Painted Veil," will direct, said the movie's co-producer and Apex Entertainment president and chief executive Mark Ciardi. Production is slated to begin around Labor Day with a tentative release in late 2017.
Ciardi noted that younger generations may not know about the story. "In some parts it will be educational, that, wow, in 1969 this happened, with the moon landing in the backdrop, this event happened and how everything kind of played out after that," he said.
But the film will not be a "political" movie. "I certainly wouldn't characterize it as just a political movie at all," said Ciardi.
Producers are scouting locations for the film, but Ciardi would not say if Chappaquiddick would be one of those locations. Local officials said no request was made to film on the island as of yet.
Kennedy went to Martha's Vineyard to race in the Edgartown Regatta and that evening attended a party at a rented house on serene and picturesque Chappaquiddick, which is separated from the Vineyard by a narrow strait and accessed by a small, barge-like ferry. Guests included Kennedy friends and several women, including Kopechne, who had worked on the presidential campaign of his brother Robert F. Kennedy, assassinated a year earlier.
Kennedy and Kopechne, 28, left the party together and a short time later the car plunged into Poucha Pond. Kennedy escaped from the submerged vehicle and said he made several futile attempts to rescue Kopechne, who was trapped inside.
Kennedy said in his memoir True Compass about the event: "I've had to live with that guilt for forty years. But my burden is nothing compared to her [Mary Jo Kopechne] loss and the suffering her family had to endure."
For once we agree with Ted Kennedy.
Hat Tip to former FReeper joesaddleback
Came for this. Leaving satisfied.
I think it was Harvard Lampoon magazine rather than Mad magazine, though.
“Give Tanks to the Lloyd”!
Sorry about my first response. That was in reference to a
religion that worshipped Lloyd Bridges. Their services Consisted of watching reruns of “Sea-Hunt. And Their Mantra
was “Give Tanks to The Lloyd”!
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