Their first collaboration, The Wolf of Wall Street, showed what happens when bad behaviour is repeatedly rewarded. Now for their next collaboration, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill will take on a different form of injustice and show what happens when good behaviour is punished.
According to Deadline, Hill and DiCaprio have acquired the rights to a Vanity Fair story about Richard Jewell, the Atlanta security guard who noticed a suspicious backpack lying on the ground at the 1996 Olympics, and helped clear the area moments before the backpack exploded killing two people and injuring 111.
Although initially hailed as a hero, Jewell became the FBI’s prime suspect three days later. Their evidence: Jewell was overweight and owned a pornography collection, which meant that he fit the FBI’s profile of “the lone bomber.”;
For the next few weeks, the media portrayed Jewell as a wannabe cop who planted the bomb so that the could find it and become a hero. A media circus of 10,000 reporters gathered outside his house and hounded him relentlessly. Tom Brokaw speculated on air that the FBI had enough evidence to arrest and charge him, but not enough to convict him. Jay Leno ridiculed him every night on the Tonight Show, directing most of his punchlines at Jewell’s weight. Victims of the bombings filed lawsuits. Jewell was suddenly the most hated man in all of America.
Three months later, however, it became clear that Jewell really was a hero all along. Anti-abortion activist Eric Rudolph was declared to be the prime suspect, and Jewell was officially cleared of any wrongdoing.
Rudolph was captured in 2003 and pled guilty to all charges. He is currently serving a life sentence. Jewell, meanwhile, died in 2007 at the age of 44. He was suffering from heart disease, kidney disease, and diabetes.
In the film, Hill will portray Jewell and DiCaprio will portray the real estate lawyer who helped clear his name. DiCaprio’s Appian Way company will be producing.
