Deadline reports that Clint Eastwood may have found his next project, as the 88-year-old director is in talks with Fox and Disney to direct The Ballad Of Richard Jewell. Eastwood was previously in talks to direct the film back in 2015, but those plans failed to pan out.
Based on Marie Brenner’s 1997 Vanity Fair article “American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell,” the film will tell the true story of the innocent security guard who helped save lives during the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta who was later accused of plotting the attack. Eric Robert Rudolph plead guilty to the crime, along with several other bombings, in 2005.
The project has been in development for many years with Jonah Hill previously attached to play Jewell. Hill’s The Wolf of Wall Street cohort Leonardo DiCaprio previously attached to play the lawyer who aided him during the media firestorm that painted him as a terrorist. Neither actor remains attached to the film as a star, but remain attached as producers. Eastwood will reportedly hire his own cast and start shooting this summer on the film.
The film will be produced by DiCaprio, Hill, Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Kevin Misher.
