Hollywood Film To Revisit Events On Chappaquiddick In 1969

BOSTON (AP) — During a week in which the eyes of the nation were focused on NASA's first moon landing, a tragic drama played out on a tiny Massachusetts island that would have political ramifications for decades to follow. Australian-born "Zero Dark Thirty" star Jason Clarke will portray Kennedy in "Chappaquiddick" — the film's working title — and John Curran, whose credits include "The Painted Veil," will direct, said the movie's co-producer and Apex Entertainment president and chief executive Mark Ciardi. Concentrating on the immediate aftermath of the accident, the film will contain elements of political and legal intrigue, but Ciardi adds: "I certainly wouldn't characterize it as just a political movie at all." In his memoir, "True Compass," published shortly after his death from brain cancer in 2009, Kennedy acknowledged that many people remained skeptical and others "contemptuous" of his explanations surrounding the accident.