Sunday January 16, on France 2, viewers will be able to (re)discover The Richard Jewell case, by Clint Eastwood, with Paul Walter Hauser and Sam Rockwell. A film inspired by a true story, that of Richard Jewell, a security guard who thwarted the attack on Centennial Park during the Atlanta Olympic Games.
Movie night. Sunday January 16, France 2 broadcasts The Richard Jewell Case (2019), by Clint Eastwood, with Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde. A film based on a true story. That of the security guard who thwarted the bombing of Centennial Park during the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, before being suspected. Born in Danville, Georgia in 1962, Richard Allensworth Jewell, played by Paul Walter Hauser (photo) dreamed of being a policeman. After several sales jobs, he landed jobs as a prison guard in Habersham County and as a security guard at an apartment complex in DeKalb County. He is arrested for impersonation after using a 9mm caliber pistol and a pair of handcuffs to arrest a man after a spa fight. He pleads guilty and, thanks to a petition from the inhabitants of the complex and a positive psychological evaluation, he keeps his job at the prison. A few months later, he was promoted to deputy sheriff. In 1995, he had an accident with a police car. He says he was chasing a suspect but the sheriff demotes him. Richard Jewell refuses and resigns.
Richard Jewell: From hero to suspect
In 1996, Richard Jewell got a job as a security guard at Centennial Park for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.. A springboard to try to integrate the Atlanta police. On the night of July 26 to 27, he finds a backpack containing a homemade bomb. He alerts the authorities and begins to evacuate the area. It’s his finest hour… until, three days later, he is suspected of being the bomber by the FBI. He was acquitted eighty-eight days later and he turned against the media, which covered the case extensively by initiating legal proceedings. After the case, in 1997, Richard Jewell was recruited as a police officer in Luthersville, then in Pendergrass and Senoia. He died of heart failure in 2007 at the age of 44.