“Chappaquiddick,” the movie based on young Sen. Ted Kennedy’s fatal car accident and drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne in 1969, is getting a Dec. 8 release date, The Hollywood Reporter revealed, just in time to snag an upcoming award, like an Oscar.
The movie being released by Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios is already being touted for some kind of nod at the 2018 Academy Awards, Boston.com noted.
The film, which debuted at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month, is based on the accident one July night that killed Kopechne and ended Kennedy’s political career anywhere outside Massachusetts.
Directed by John Curran, "Chappaquiddick" lays out "in very convincing manner" that President John F. Kennedy's youngest brother "was most definitely" at fault in the deadly accident, a Newsmax story said after the Venice festival, quoting Vulture film writer Jada Yuan.
"According to Curran, every astounding fact in the movie … was taken verbatim from Teddy's written statements, plus an inquest held a couple weeks after the accident," Yuan wrote.
"What the film does best is lay out, in an increasingly horrible deluge, just how many baffling and criminally negligent actions — other than try to save Mary Jo's life — Teddy took in the accident's wake," Yuan added.
Kennedy died of brain cancer in 2009. His presidential aspirations died with Kopechne in 1969, many believe.
The film stars Jason Clarke as Kennedy and Kate Mara as Kopechne and was written by Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, THR reported, and is making waves.
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