DiCaprio, Jonah Hill to Make Movie of Richard Jewell

Security was wrongly linked to Olympic bombing of 1996
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 8, 2014 11:44 AM CST
DiCaprio, Jonah Hill to Make Movie of Richard Jewell
Richard Jewell is interviewed by the Associated Press in this 2006 file photo. He was erroneously linked to the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta.   (AP Photo/John Amis, FILE)

Leonardo DiCaprio says he and The Wolf of Wall Street co-star Jonah Hill are "going to come up with something unique" as they re-team to tell the story of 1996 Olympics security guard Richard Jewell. Hill will star as Jewell in the planned film, which was presented to the two actors as they searched for another joint project following the Oscar-nominated depiction of stockbroker excess. DiCaprio is expected to both produce and play Jewell's attorney.

Jewell was initially hailed as a hero for spotting a suspicious backpack and moving people out of harm's way just before a bomb exploded in the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, killing one and injuring 111 others. But within days, he was named as a suspect in the blast. He was eventually exonerated and died in 2007 at age 44. "I think it's such a heartbreaking story and such an interesting story about the 24-hour news cycle: a man becoming a hero and then the world's biggest villain within 24 hours of each other," says Hill. (More Leonardo DiCaprio stories.)

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