Olivia Wilde's New Role Causes Controversy

Director Clint Eastwood will never be accused of being progressive, but his new movie goes pretty far in the other direction. Purportedly based on true events, the movie makes up parts of its story, and some of those parts fall into sexist cliches. And actress Olivia Wilde is caught in the mess. Read on for details.

Via The Hollywood Reporter.

Clint Eastwood's latest directorial offering, Richard Jewell, debuted with a glamorous Hollywood premiere on Wednesday, but the accuracy of the onscreen representation of one of the film's characters, journalist Kathy Scruggs, is being called into question.

Played in the movie by Olivia Wilde, Scruggs is the reporter at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution who broke the news that Jewell (played by BlackKklansman actor Paul Walter Hauser) was a suspect in the Centennial Olympic Park bombing on July 27, 1996.

View this post on Instagram

Last night was the first time I’ve put on a dress in a WHILE and I want to thank everyone who sent prayers to my zipper. She stayed intact. We made it. And fun was had. Thank you @ralphlauren for the dress, @karlawelchstylist for letting me wear the comfy shoes, @melaniemakeup for covering up the sleep deprivation, and @bykileyfitz for not flinching when I said “this is unwashed pool hair, is that cool?”. 🙏 #governorsawards

A post shared by Olivia Wilde (@oliviawilde) on Oct 28, 2019 at 10:11am PDT

Eastwood's film portrays the events leading up to Scruggs' report. The journalist, portrayed as loud, brash and hunting for "something crimey going on anywhere," offers to sleep with FBI agent Tom Shaw (played by Jon Hamm) in exchange for information about the investigation. To this, Shaw replies, "Kathy, you couldn't fuck it out of them. What makes you think you could fuck it out of me?" Shaw does provide Jewell's name to Scruggs, then asks if the two should get a hotel room or go back to her car. While they are never actually seen doing so, it is implied that they sleep together.

At a post-screening Q&A for the film on Wednesday evening, Eastwood was asked about the making of the project and what drew him to the story. "I think it's a great American tragedy that this man — everybody went after him, and I realized how it happened."

View this post on Instagram

Presented at the SAG Patron Of The Arts Awards tonight. Been a @sagaftra member since I bought weed from Timothy Olyphant as “hot girl #7” in The Girl Next Door. I had one line : “is it shwag?” . #itgetsbetter #sagpatronoftheartists

A post shared by Olivia Wilde (@oliviawilde) on Nov 7, 2019 at 9:20pm PST

"The people — Atlanta never had a huge thing like the Olympics," he added. "In two, three days they have this horrible bombing and they have to get somebody and they happen to get the first person. And it happened to be Richard Jewell, and everybody just sold out and didn't offer the basics of the American system, which is innocent until proven guilty. The FBI and media were unkind. It shows that good people can do bad things and you have to swing with it. But Richard Jewell was a kind person and he got a bad deal."

According to Kevin Riley, the current editor-in-chief of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, there is no evidence that this transaction ever happened. "There has never been any evidence that this is how Kathy got the story," says Riley. "This came out of the blue."

Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.

Do you think the movie goes too far? Let us know in the comments below.