The trailer for “Richard Jewell” is insanely powerful. It feels real. The actors’ portrayals are so convincing that the trailer is truly captivating. Your heart will race with anticipation – it’d be shocking if the same is not true for the movie when it premieres.

The movie, based on the tragic 1996 bombing of the Olympics in Atlanta, is dark and cynical – it portrays the media and FBI going after Richard Jewell with a vengeance. Before the incident, Jewell worked at the sheriff’s office in Clarkesville before transferring to campus police here at Piedmont College. He worked here for a short time in 1996 before he joined security at the Olympics – however, the movie excludes this to tighten its focus on the media.

Richard Jewell, “a wanna be cop,” who located the bomb and saved lives was later scrutinized and put under a microscope by the FBI and media, specifically the AJC. They claimed he fit the profile of the lone bomber and ran the story with hardly any evidence.

The movie is directed by Clint Eastwood and stars John Hamm, Olivia Wilde and Kathy Bates. It is set to premiere December 13th. It is important to see this movie to be reminded of how powerful words can be, how they can change someone’s life and can’t be taken back. The media is a tool that can easily be turned into a weapon, given such circumstances or agendas.

The trailer opens with Jewell being coerced into saying “There’s a bomb in Centennial Park – you have 30 minutes,” repeatedly into a telephone by the FBI – giving the shuddering effect of him being framed. The trailer exploits the intensity of the moment the bomb was found, the moment Jewell was turned into a traitor and the moment he decided they couldn’t blame him any longer. 

Jewell decided that the two most powerful sources could not condemn him. He was innocent and soon the whole country would know how America betrayed a hero. “The world will know his name and the truth.”