Finally, Americans will be given the full truth and nothing but the truth about what happened the night Sen. Ted Kennedy left an innocent woman to drown in a car as he fled from the scene of an accident.
The film “Chappaquiddick,” starring Jason Clarke as the Kennedy golden boy and Kate Mara as his fateful victim, comes out next weekend, but according to the film’s executive producer, powerful players have tried to prevent that from happening.
Speaking with Variety, Byron Allen, Entertainment Studios CEO and executive producer of the film, “very powerful” people have pressured him not to release the movie.
“Unfortunately, there are some very powerful people who tried to put pressure on me not to release this movie,” Allen said. “They went out of their way to try and influence me in a negative way. I made it very clear that I’m not about the right, I’m not about the left. I’m about the truth.”
On one fateful night in 1969, Ted Kennedy drove a car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Martha’s Vineyard. As the movie unflinchingly portrays, Kennedy left the scene of the accident, abandoning his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, to drown alone. Rather than call for help, Kennedy instead went home to focus on covering up the incident. A whole 10 hours would pass before Kennedy officially reported the accident. Evidence would later show that Kopechne could have possibly survived had Kennedy sought immediate help.
Speaking at the film’s Beverly Hills premiere, Allen referred to Kopechne as “one of the original #MeToo victims,” demanding that her story be told and the public learn the truth.
Jason Clarke, who portrays Ted Kennedy in the movie, admitted to feeling uneasy about the role.
“I was nervous on a ‘can I do it’ level and I guess on a ‘should we do it [level],'” Clarke explained. “We’re not making propaganda. Here is this amazing, incredible, traumatic event, which I think has had a massive impact, and still does, and effects the world we’re in now — 20th-century American history.”
Actress Kate Mara, who plays Kopechne, said she wanted to “make sure we show her in a way that is respectable and that honors her in some small way.”
Kopechne’s family has publicly stated they hope the movie shows the whole truth and gives Mary Jo the justice she deserves.