BOSTON (WHDH) — “Chappaquiddick,” a new movie about the scandal involving Sen. Ted Kennedy, is out in theaters Friday. The director and star of the movie spoke with 7News about making the film.
“When the script came to me, it seemed a really pivotal story in our history that I was surprised that no one had told properly. And it felt that it was the right time,” said director John Curran.
The movie revists the 1969 scandal when Kennedy drove his car off a small Martha’s Vineyard bridge into shallow water. Kennedy survived and Mary Jo Kopechne, a young political aide in the car with him, drowned. Kennedy left the scene and did not report the crash for 10 hours.
At the time, Kennedy was a presidential hopeful and while he survived the crash, his political aspirations did not.
Curran said while many who made the film are fans of the late senator and the causes he fought for, he felt that they should be able to take a hard, honest look at him.
“This is a very intimate portrait of Ted. You can say Chappaquiddick, scandal, politics but it’s a very intimate portrait of a man in a crisis and then falls into another crisis and has to deal with it,” said Jason Clarke, who plays Kennedy. Clarke, who is Australian, wore a wig and adopted a Boston accent to portray Kennedy.
Curran said he based the movie on historical record but allowed himself the liberty of inventing private conversations, saying it is a drama and not a documentary.
“One of the reasons of us bringing the story too was to show this man in a way that film can that we’ve never seen about it before,” said Clarke.
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