Sam Rockwell To Star In Clint Eastwood's Film About 1996 Olympic Bombing, 'The Ballad Of Richard Jewell'

Just recently, Sam Rockwell was talking about how he’d really like to stop playing racists in films. And while he seems to have avoided the racist guy role in his new film, the actor will be playing the defense attorney of a suspecting bombing suspect in Atlanta. So, Rockwell still can’t escape the South.

According to Variety, Rockwell has signed on to star in Clint Eastwood’s upcoming film “The Ballad of Richard Jewell.” The film, as you can surmise from the title, follows the true story of Richard Jewell, a security guard during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games that discovers a bomb and tries to warn people before it explodes. Jewell goes from hero to villain, however, after law enforcement officials claim that the guard was actually responsible for the bomb himself and only “discovered” it to gain fame. Of course, this is all disproven, but the damage to Jewell’s reputation had lasting effects.

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In the film, Rockwell is said to play the defense attorney that is hired by Jewell to help clear his name. As mentioned, Eastwood is directing the film, which has gone through many iterations over the years. At one point, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill were attached to star. They have yet to announce who will play Jewell, opposite Rockwell.

Rockwell is probably best known, at least recently, for his roles in films like “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Fosse/Verdon,” and “The Best of Enemies.” And yes, in two of those roles, he was portraying a very racist individual. However, with ‘Three Billboards,’ he actually was able to land himself an Oscar trophy, as well as just about every other acting trophy that year.

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No word on when ‘Ballad’ will be released, as it was originally set up with Fox. But after the Disney merger, the project left Fox and has now landed at Warner Bros.