Olympic Park Bombing Movie Enters Oscar Race

(ATR) Clint Eastwood’s film about the Centennial Olympic Park bombing is set for December release.

"Richard Jewell" tells the story of the 1996 bombing during the Atlanta Olympics from the perspective of the security guard who was incorrectly identified as the perpetrator of the attack.

Richard Jewell was working in the park the night of the bombing. Initially he was labled a hero for alerting people to flee the area after he discovered a backpack containing the bomb.

The bombing wounded more than 100 people and killed one person. A cameraman from Turkey also died as he rushed to the scene, suffering a heart attack

Jewell became the object of frenzied reporting and police investigation. But the furor was a waste. There was no evidence to pursue the case against Jewell and in October 1996, the US attorney’s office in Atlanta officially said Jewellwas not a suspect.

Eventually Eric Rudolph was convicted for the crime, one of a series of bombings he carried out in the southeast. Most of his other targets were abortion clinics. Rudolph is in jail for life. Jewell died in 2007 at age 44 from heart disease.

The film by Eastwood was shot in Atlanta in the past few months. Notable is the quick production schedule which calls for the film release on December 13. That will put it in contention for Oscar nominations.

A trailer for the movie released this week has attracted widespread media coverage. The 2 ½ minute trailer does a good job building tension over the way Jewell was treated by media and law enforcement while he was under suspicion.

Paul Walter Hauser stars as Jewell. Other members of the cast include Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Olivia Wilde, and Jon Hamm.

Hauser has starred in another film with a notorious Olympic angle. He played the role of Tonya Harding’s bodyguard in the biopic "I Tonya".

Reported by Ed Hula.