Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell cast in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’

Originally posted Tuesday, June 18, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog

Clint Eastwood has cast all the major parts for his upcoming film about Richard Jewell, the security guard falsely accused of setting off the bomb at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

The movie, titled “Richard Jewell,” is set to start production sometime this summer in metro Atlanta.

Paul Walter Hauser - who played Shawn Eckhardt in the Tonya Harding film "I, Tonya" also shot in Atlanta - will portray Jewell.

Emmy-winning "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm will play an FBI agent investigating the bombing. Olivia Wilde, who directed the recent critical hit "Booksmart" and was on the cast of Fox's "House" for several years, will play Atlanta Journal-Constitution police reporter Kathy Scruggs. She broke the story about Jewell being an FBI target.

Two-time Oscar winner Sam Rockwell will play Jewell's attorney while Oscar winner Kathy Bates will portray Jewell's mom Bobi.

Jewell was cleared by the FBI 88 days later. He later became a police officer but died at age 44 in 2007 of heart failure.

Former Olympic bombing suspect Richard Jewell is questioned by the media as he returns to his Atlanta apartment on Saturday, Oct. 26, 1996. Jewell received, through his attorney Jack Martin, a letter today from the U.S. Department of Justice that officially declared that he is no longer a suspect in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing that occured on July 27, 1996. (AP Photo/Alan Mothner)

PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 25: Paul Walter Hauser, who will play Richard Jewell in an upcoming Clint Eastwood directed film about Jewell, attends the "Late Night" Premiere during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theatre on January 25, 2019 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Variety broke the story on the Hamm and Wilde casting.

Several years ago, when the project was first announced,  Jonah Hill was supposed to play Jewell and Leo DiCaprio the FBI agent. But it never got off the ground. Neither will be in the Eastwood-directed film but will remain producers.

Coincidentally, a TV show focused more on the reporter Scruggs (played by Carla Gugino) is shooting in Pittsburgh right now for second season of the anthology series "Manhunt: Lone Wolf." It will air on a new streaming service Spectrum Originals for Charter subscribers.