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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsClint Eastwood's misogynistic slander of female reporter in "Jewell" film
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/clint-eastwood-richard-jewell-kathy-scruggs-1203429660/amp/'The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is asking Warner Bros. and the makers of Richard Jewell to release a statement acknowledging it took dramatic license when it portrayed journalist Kathy Scruggs as trading sex for tips.
The Clint Eastwood film looks at the media circus that broke out around Jewell, a security guard who came under suspicion for orchestrating the Centennial Olympic Park bombing before being exonerated. Scruggs, an employee at the paper, broke the story that Jewell was under investigation by the FBI. The film shows Scruggs, portrayed by Olivia Wilde, sleeping with an FBI agent (Jon Hamm) to get the story. Scruggs died in 2001 at the age of 42. The paper has maintained that there is no evidence that Scruggs slept with anyone involved in the Jewell investigation.
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Reached for comment, Kevin G. Riley, editor of the Journal-Constitution, said that reporters in his newsroom and those who knew Scruggs were disturbed by the films portrayal. Riley saw the film when it premiered at AFI Fest. He said he felt that the movie trades in harmful stereotypes about female journalists, such as those seen in movies like Absence of Malice and Thank You for Smoking that have depicted female reporters sleeping with sources.
I think this letter makes it clear how seriously we take the misrepresentation of our reporters actions and of the actions of the newspaper during that time, he said. We have been clear about how disturbed we are in the films use of a Hollywood trope about reporters and how it misrepresents how seriously journalists concern themselves with reporting accurately and ethically....(more)
Grokenstein
(5,707 posts)I mean, he's been that way since the '70s, and I usually don't watch anything he's directed, but The 15:17 to Paris is frequently on the breakroom TV at work and it is an astonishing exercise in parading liberal and "foreigner" strawmen. I expect nothing better from the debater of empty chairs and the director of Only White Men Ever Fought At Iwo Jima, forever seeking fresh stories of aggrieved white conservative penises to blow up to legendary horseshit proportions, at the expense of all others.
Solomon
(12,305 posts)Couldn't have said it any better. Thank you.
jeffreyi
(1,934 posts)Eastwood is not a good person. I don't like his movies, either.
Jim__
(14,045 posts)I didn't think we'd get that from Eastwood.
underpants
(182,279 posts)Rudolph has also confessed to three other bombings: an abortion clinic in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs on January 16, 1997; the Otherside Lounge of Atlanta, a lesbian bar, on February 21, 1997, injuring five;[9] and an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama on January 29, 1998, killing Birmingham police officer and part-time clinic security guard Robert Sanderson, and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons. Rudolph's bombs contained nails which acted as shrapnel.
oldsoftie
(12,410 posts)He sued several news outlets and almost all settled with him before going to court. And a year or so before he died, the State of Ga officially thanked him for what he did that day.
I remember well the rush to convict him when he hadnt even been named a suspect. It was terrible.
And I remember watching the news reporting live outside the Atlanta clinic bombing and as the reporter spoke, the second bomb went off behind her in a dumpster. The concussion blew her hair forward. Fortunately no one was injured in the 2nd explosion. I'll never forget that scene.
3Hotdogs
(12,210 posts)Wasn't there some asshole who took out a full page ad in the failing N.Y. Times? It promoted restoring the death penalty to execute criminals like The 5?
oldsoftie
(12,410 posts)underpants
(182,279 posts)Brutal. It's like the first bomb was setting a trap.
I get that Jewel was screwed. He deserves everything he got. Eric Rudolph was the epitome of the right. He attacks first responders under the auspices of being pro life.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Your post is a little confusing as it can be misconstrued as Jewel deserved being screwed.
underpants
(182,279 posts)PatSeg
(46,804 posts)A genius in his own mind.
CousinIT
(9,151 posts)I quit watching his films or listening to him years ago. Sad, he was a good actor. But he's butt-ugly to me with those attitudes so I just can't with that.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)All I see is their politics.
Maru Kitteh
(28,303 posts)Always gave me the creepy-crawlies, even when I would hear of other females swooning over him being a "hunk." He's a hunk of something alright.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)okieinpain
(9,397 posts)tenderfoot
(8,424 posts)despicable! Even got her omitted from the "In Memory" part of the Oscars - despite her being nominated for one.
Beringia
(4,314 posts)She was very strong, though pretty sad.
He also starred his wife in a few of his Every Which Way but Loose series, with the orangutan. She was a strong independent woman, though I guess not very nice.
Greybnk48
(10,148 posts)that starred in every which way but loose and a few others after that. He's a prick
Beringia
(4,314 posts)You are saying he is a misogynist because he left Maggie for Sandra Locke?
exboyfil
(17,857 posts)she was the go to rape victim for a series of films that he was associated with (lead actor and I think had producer credits).
HAB911
(8,811 posts)spanone
(135,636 posts)fuck him
HAB911
(8,811 posts)Hong Kong Cavalier
(4,571 posts)When that maggot implied that President Obama would tell him to "go fuck yourself" I was fucking pissed.
As if Obama would have ever said that to him. President Obama would have been gracious and respectful and even kind in the face of that much venom.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,147 posts)progressoid
(49,827 posts)For Wildes part, she was comfortable playing a complex character, and wonders why the same scrutiny isnt being leveled at Hamms FBI agent. Wilde called it an unfair double standard.
She was incredibly successful as a cop reporter. She had a very close relationship with the cops and the FBI helping to tell their story, and yes, by all accounts she had relationships with different people in that field, Wilde told Deadline. But what I resented was this character being boiled down to one inferred scene and I dont hear anyone complaining about Jon Hamms character as being inferred that he also had a relationship with a reporter. It feels unfair that Kathy has been minimized in this way.
I think that we are still struggling with allowing for female characters who arent entirely quote-unquote likable, she said. If theres anything slightly questionable about a female character, we often use that in relation to condemn that character or to condemn the project for allowing for a woman to be impure in a way. Its a misunderstanding of feminism to assume that all women have to be sexless. I resent the character being minimized to that point, the Booksmart filmmaker added...
https://deadline.com/2019/12/olivia-wilde-responds-to-richard-jewell-kathy-scruggs-controversy-1202799205/
exboyfil
(17,857 posts)to get her stories, then it is perfectly ok to include it in a biopic. Otherwise don't show it.
That is what I hate about biopics (see Max Baer's treatment in Cinderella Man or Freddie Mercury's lover/manager in Bohemian Rhapsody). Everyone should be clear about the dramatic license they take to set up a "villain". These are real people that, even if dead, should not be libeled.
The AJC did go down the rabbit hole based upon information from the FBI (and the source still is shielded), but they did eventually get on the right track and their reporting actually got ahead of the investigation in showing the FBI theory did not hold up.
It is Freeh's FBI that should be criticized. They never found the leaker. The name should never have gotten out prior to preparation of a charging document at a minimum.
Withywindle
(9,988 posts)Still a tired sexist trope, but whatever. I think it's a totally different thing to slander a real person, who isn't around to defend herself. There are people who will see the movie and think it's all true and that really happened, even though it's a lie. Terrible thing to do to a real person's legacy, IMO.
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)Like she didnt understand what people are upset about.
Johonny
(20,684 posts)exboyfil
(17,857 posts)the lily.
saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)I wouldn't see the movie if it was free.
redstatebluegirl
(12,264 posts)Eastwood is a right wing monster.
Kaleva
(36,147 posts)If one finds it entertaining, then it did what it's supposed to.
Archae
(46,262 posts)"No more bullshit! Tell the truth!"
The "Richard Jewell" ads say now we should "know the real truth."
So why is Eastwood making shit up about a woman who died in 2001?
Oh right, "Artistic License," translation: Lie.
Oliver Stone's "JFK" was really bad when it came to being factual, in fact only two facts were in the whole movie:
JFK was killed in Dallas
Jim Garrison put Clay Shaw on trial for the killing
The rest of "JFK" is one big fat LIE.
Kaleva
(36,147 posts)The series depicts Victoria as a monarch who cares about the common people when in truth, she really didn't. Nobody should go to the movies or watch some historical drama and expect to see 100% accurate history. It's entertainment. Not a college course.
Look at how the 1979 movie "The Amityville Horror" was promoted as. People came away from that movie believing it was based on actual events when it really was just total bullshit.