Kathy Bates has been nominated for a Golden Globes award for her role as Bobi Jewell in “Richard Jewell,” out on Friday.
Her nomination, for best performance by an actress in a supporting role in any motion picture, is the film's sole Golden Globes nod. (Here's the full list of nominations).
During red carpet interviews at the movie’s Hollywood premiere last month, Bates talked about the friendship she and Bobi Jewell developed while working on the movie.
“Bobi baked me a pound cake, because it was my birthday when I got there. She’s a real pistol,” Bates said, according to footage provided by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. “I know this means the world to her for the world to know that Richard is a hero.”
Richard Jewell was working as a security guard during the 1996 Olympics. His quick thinking saved countless lives the night a bomb exploded in Centennial Olympic Park, but within days the FBI came to focus on him as a suspect.
“All hell broke loose,” Bobi Jewell said of that time, according to an interview clip provided by Warner Bros. “The telephones kept ringing and ringing. The news media took over. I think at one time there were 200 reporters, television cameras, policemen.”
Richard Jewell was cleared after 88 days, and confessed serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph is serving multiple life sentences.
“I said I was going to write a book about it and I was going to call it ‘88 Days of Hell,’ because that’s exactly what we went through,” Bobi Jewell said. Her son is played by Paul Walter Hauser in the movie, which was directed by Clint Eastwood and filmed in Atlanta.
Hauser’s portrayal of Richard was so spot-on it gave Bobi Jewell the “jeebie-weebies,” she said.
“He’s even walking the way Richard did,” she said. She became emotional when talking about Richard and how important it is that people appreciate how his heroic actions saved lives.
“I’ve carried this in my heart all these years,” she said. “They really need to know.”
