Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell Movie Moves From Fox to Warner Bros.

The untitled project had been set up at Fox since 2014, with Jonah Hill initially attached to play disgraced security guard Richard Jewell and Leonardo DiCaprio as his attorney. The two remain connected to the project as producers.


The story of disgraced security guard Richard Jewell has landed at Warner Bros.


Clint Eastwood, whose production company has called Warners home for decades, is on board to direct and produce the project, which he hopes to shoot later this year.


The untitled project had been set up at Fox since 2014, with Jonah Hill initially attached to play Jewell and Leonardo DiCaprio on board to play his attorney. The two remain connected to the project as producers. Tim Moore, Jessica Meier,Kevin Misher and Jennifer Davisson, DiCaprio’s partner at Appian Way, are also producing.


With Disney’s acquisition of Fox complete in March, the studio began looking at the various slates and deciding what would fit under new divisional mandates. It was decided that Jewell, given Eastwood's interest, should go to the filmmaker’s longtime home.


Jewell was working as a security guard at the 1996 Summer Games when he discovered a backpack containing pipe bombs, subsequently sounding the alarm and helping to clear the area. However, the bomb did detonate, killing one person and injuring dozens of others.


Initially hailed as a hero, Jewell was soon the prime suspect, as the FBI searched his home twice. A media frenzy painted him as an overweight failed cop and mama's boy, and he became the punchline for late-night jokes.


He was eventually cleared as the country and media’s attention passed on to another topic. He died in 2007 at the age of 44.


Billy Ray wrote the script.