‘Chappaquiddick’ to open Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival
Doug Powers: This is a little like premiering the movie “Hindenburg” at a theater in Lakehurst, New Jersey, but it’s a perfect backhanded tribute to the senator who had the audacity to name his dog “Splash”:
Chappaquiddick, the upcoming movie that revisits Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s infamous 1969 car crash on the Island, will open the 2018 Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival on March 15.
A discussion with the film’s director, John Curran, and actor Jason Clarke, who stars as Mr. Kennedy, will follow the opening night screening.
“We’re really excited,” MVFF artistic director Brian Ditchfield told the Gazette Tuesday. “It’s rare that you find a great dramatic film that also has local resonance, and so we thought it was the perfect film to open the festival.”
Producers Behind ‘Chappaquiddick’ Bought Advertising Slots During CNN’s Upcoming Kennedy Series
DC: Producers behind the upcoming film focusing on Ted Kennedy and the Chappaquiddick incident purchased ad space to play during and just before CNN’s upcoming miniseries “American Dynasties: The Kennedy,” sources familiar with the film’s promotion strategy told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Entitled “The Truth,” the movie trailer will play on CNN Sunday before the premiere of “American Dynasties,” with other ads playing during commercial breaks throughout the series in the coming weeks.
CNN got played! HA
The new film about Ted Kennedy’s worst personal failing, “Chappaquiddick,” was given an early screening in Boston. Howie Carr attended and while he’ll never be a film critic (Warning: Numerous Spoilers), he has me willing to stand in line to see this movie:
(The following has some great lines. Jack)
Boy, are the Kennedys going to hate this new movie about Teddy.
The title of the movie: “Chappaquiddick.” What more does America’s First Family need to know before they start booing and hissing?
The movie debuts April 6, and after viewing it Monday night, I can tell you it’s a great film. Here are a few of the more memorable scenes:
As the Oldsmobile sinks in the tidal pond and the water rises around Mary Jo Kopechne, with her final panicked breaths she is reciting the Act of Contrition.
As Ted tells his crippled, dying father Joe what has happened, the old man croaks out, “Alibi!”
In the car with Joan on the way to Mary Jo’s funeral, Teddy tells his fuming wife: “Thanks for doing this, Joanie.” To which Joan replies, “Go (bleep) yourself, Teddy!”
Even though his advisers warn him not to wear a fake neck brace to Mary Jo’s funeral, he does so anyway. When the newspapers rip him to shreds for his cynical ploy, Teddy admits to his posse: “The neck brace was a mistake, I see that now.”
At the compound in Hyannis Port, Teddy tells his advisers that he’ll handle the scandal control “since it’s my political future at stake.” And Robert McNamara, the former defense secretary, interrupts him to say, “You won’t have a political future if you’re in jail, Ted.”
When Ted mentions to his two pals that he plans to say Mary Jo was driving the death car, U.S. attorney Paul Markham informs him, “Attorney-client privilege doesn’t extend to aiding and abetting.”
Even a few years ago, “Chappaquiddick” could have never, ever been made in Hollywood. A few producers tried, and they never worked in this town again.
Ask Geraldo Rivera sometime what happened when ABC News tried to do a documentary on the strange death of Marilyn Monroe. Teddy tried to shut down this newspaper and the New York Post after I started calling him Fat Boy when his weight ballooned above 300 pounds in the late 1980s.
The Kennedys likewise almost prevented the publication of two unflattering tell-all books about Fat Boy — “The Senator” and “Senatorial Privilege.” The author of the latter, Leo Damore, ended up committing suicide after he was blackballed in the publishing industry.
But that was then, and this is now, and the Kennedys have become a national laughingstock. Not only is this new movie coming out, but Damore’s book is being reissued next month, under the title “Chappaquiddick.” (I wrote the foreword for the new edition.)
The actor who plays Teddy, Jason Clarke, is amazing. He’s Australian, just like the guy who played crooked FBI agent Zip Connolly in the movie “Black Mass.” What is it about these Aussies that they can do such a bang-up job playing bent Boston Irish criminals?
A couple of more great moments in “Chappaquiddick”:
Teddy is ordering one of his minions to hustle Mary Jo’s corpse off the island, and the hack says OK “but there may be a delay if they want to perform an autopsy.” And Teddy starts yelling, “Why do you think I want it out of here!?”
Right before his speech to the nation, Teddy tells his cousin, Joe Gargan, that all men are flawed — “Moses had a temper, Peter betrayed Jesus, I have Chappaquiddick.” To which Cousin Joe replies, “Yeah, Moses had a temper but he never left a girl at the bottom of the Red Sea.”
