The Ballad of Richard Jewell has been in the works for around five years now. The film is based on a Vanity Fair article from 1997 and will tell the true story of a security guard who discovered a pipe bomb at the Olympic games in Atlanta in 1996. At first, he was hailed a hero, but suddenly he became vilified when he became a suspect instead. Now, it finally appears to be gaining some real traction as it locks down Clint Eastwood as director and shifts from its former home at 20th Century Fox over to Warner Bros. Pictures, following the former studio’s acquisition by The Walt Disney Company.

Variety has news on The Ballad of Richard Jewell heading to Warner Bros. Pictures, who has officially set Clint Eastwood to direct the project. Funnily enough, Eastwood flirted with the project back in 2015, but he eventually fell away, allowing directors like Paul Greengrass (Jason Bourne), Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America) to consider taking the helm. But now Eastwood is back in the director’s chair for Warner Bros., which the director has found a solid amount of success with in recent years.

Apparently there were some discussions about The Ballad of Richard Jewell staying at Disney following their acquisition, which would have marked a reunion between Eastwood and Alan Horn, who previous worked with the filmmaker while he was the head of Warner Bros. Pictures. But everyone thought it was a better fit for Warner Bros., which just goes to show you how Disney owning Fox is reducing the wide array of projects the studio will take on.

When this project first started kicking around back in 2014, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill were attached to star, following their acclaimed team-up in The Wolf of Wall Street. However, the two will no longer be in front of the camera, but will still be on board the film as producers, along with DiCaprio’s Appian Way partners Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Kevin Misher. They’ll be joined by Clint Eastwood as a producer, as well as Tim Moore and Jessica Meier.

Could this movie be another possible awards contender when the time comes? Eastwood seems to have beeen exclusively making those kind of movies over the past decade with films like Invictus, J. Edgar, Sully, American Sniper, and The Mule finding varying degrees of recognition on the awards circuit. We’ll have to wait and see who ends up starring in this movie and if it’s destined for awards accolades as time goes on.

Source: Read Full Article