Chappaquiddick

Director: John Curran John Curran

Overview

Based on real events, Chappaquiddick tells the story of the 1969 incident in which Senator Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) drove his car into a lake, killing campaign strategist Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara). Kennedy fled the scene and didn't inform the police for ten hours. His confidantes and his father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (Bruce Dern), attempt to use the power of their family's political dynasty to spin the story, avert scandal, and protect Ted's presidential aspirations. Ed Helms, Jim Gaffigan, and Taylor Nichols co-star. Directed by John Curran.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/10/2018
UPC:	0031398278740
Original Release:	2017
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:46:00
Sales rank:	39,719

Special Features

A reckoning: revisiting Chappaquiddick; Bridge to the past: editing the film

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jason Clarke	Sen. Ted Kennedy
Kate Mara	Mary Jo Kopechne
Ed Helms	Joe Gargan
Bruce Dern	Joe Kennedy Sr.
Jim Gaffigan	Paul Markham
Clancy Brown	Robert McNamara
Olivia Thirlby	Rachel Schiff
Andria Blackman	Joan Kennedy
Taylor Nichols	Ted Sorensen
John Fiore	Chief Arena
Sarah Elizabeth Mitchell	Senate Secretary
Lexie Roth	Nancy Lyons
Tamara Hickey	Marilyn Richards
Victor Warren	Stephen Edward Smith
Sigrid Lium	Senate Staffer
Matthew Lawler	Dun Gifford
Susan Garibotto	Senate Staffer
Jason Mulcahy	Reporter
Donald Watson	Dr. Watt
Alison Wachtler	Liz Trotta
Bill Porter	Investigative News Reporter
Bill Porter Sr.	Investigative News Reporter
Thomas Rhett Kee	James Steele,Walter Steele
Katie Henoch	Suzy Tannenbaum
Ed O'Keefe	Funeral Priest
David DeBeck	Sargent Shriver
Dustin Tucker	Senatorial Aide
Angela Hope Smith	Maryellen Lyons
Bob Jaffe	Reporter #2
Stephan F. Feeley	Funeral Guest,Mourner
Gillian Mariner Gordon	Cricket Keough
Marinko Radakovic	Reporter
Noah Joseph Carpenter	Teddy Junior
Damien Di Paola	Ray LaRosa
Rob Dininni	Reporter #4
Charlotte Anne Dore	Mrs. Kopechne
Bill Mootos	Edgartown Reporter
Bobby Kenney	Investigative News Reporter
John Hawe	Stephen Sorenson
Tim Jackson	Joe Kopechne
Frankie Imbergamo	Mourner
Paul Taft	Vineyard Gazette Photographer
Vince Tycer	David Burke
John J. Burke	Lawyer
Walter Driscoll	Dr. Mills
Jesse Christensen	Reporter
Bill Humphreys	James Reston
Joseph Zamparelli	Officer Huck Look
David Callanan	Charles Tretter
Richard Wingert	Reporter,Voices
Paul Bellefeuille	Dike House Restaurant
Charles Sayegh	Hyannisport NewsSound Mixer
Harold Rudolph	Funeral Attendee
Joe Chase	John Farrar
John Sarnie	Mourner
William Galatis	Shiretown Inn Guest
Carrie Ann Quinn	RMV Attendant
Matt O'Donnell	Reporter
Michael Balzano III	US Senator
Beth Petrou	Ann Gargan
Dov Kling- Levine	Levine-Protester/Local
Sean Patrick Hopkins	Ross Richards
Michael Fennimore	Chief of Staff
Jeff Savage	John Culver
Thomas Brogan	Edgartown Policeman
Philip Dom Hebert	Jack Crimmens
Luke Nelson	Town Selectman
Holt Murray	Mr. Samuels
James L. Leite	Senatorial Staff
Ed Peed	Undertaker
Caleb Enos	Ferry Deckhand
Barry M. Press	Burke Marshall,Burke Marshall
Garth Stevenson	Composer
Dustin O'Halloran	Composer
Paul Pape	Voices
Jake Head	Voices
Chris Edgerly	Voices
Piotr Michael	Voices

Technical Credits

Andrew Logan

Taylor Allen

John Curran	Director
Mark Ciardi	Producer
Chris Cowles	Producer
Chris Fenton	Producer,Executive Producer
Campbell G. McInnes	Producer
Andrew Logan	Screenwriter,Executive Producer
Taylor Allen	Screenwriter,Executive Producer,Producer,Producer,Executive Producer
Mark Borde	Executive Producer,Producer
Carolyn Folks	Executive Producer,Producer
Jennifer Lucas	Executive Producer,Producer
Mark DeVitre	Executive Producer,Producer
Douglas Jones	Executive Producer,Producer
Chris Charalambous	Executive Producer,Producer
Ben Rose	Executive Producer,Producer
Rikard Falk	Special Effects
Theodore Suchecki	Special Effects
Billy Concha	Stunts
Jeffrey Corazzini	Stunts
Duffy Gaver	Stunts
Anthony Genova	Stunts
Nicolas Harvard	Stunts
Heidi Pascoe	Stunts
Mary Vernieu	Casting
Kevin Parker	Sound Mixer
Aaron Glascock	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

In Chappaquiddick, director John Curran (The Killer Inside Me) churns out a surfeit of complex, crucial questions. These questions run the gamut from the political to the moral to the psychological and beyond. The film does not definitively answer any of these questions, but rather portrays varying versions of events and asks audiences to draw their own conclusions. More than anything else, Chappaquiddick is an examination of how Ted Kennedy's mind worked. The undisputed facts of the Chappaquiddick incident are that Ted Kennedy and a young woman named Mary Jo Kopechne were in Kennedy's car together when, around 1:00 in the morning, the car went off a bridge and into a pond. Kennedy swam to shore and survived while Kopechne died in the submerged car. Kennedy left the scene and only reported the accident nine hours later. In Chappaquiddick, Kennedy vacillates between telling the authorities and the public the truth about what happened and telling them a version of events concocted by strategists and advisers to minimize the damage to Kennedy's reputation. This effort takes on a unique importance because Kennedy was expected to run for President in 1972 and because he was the last living Kennedy son. Initially, Kennedy seems intent on disavowing his participation in the accident. However, his close associate Joe Gargan, stirringly portrayed by Ed Helms, persuades him to tell the truth about what happens. Kennedy submits a written statement to the local police detailing the accident. This statement is soon released to the media but when Teddy's domineering father asserts control over the whole operation, an alternate version of events is put forward through Kennedy by a gang of cynical, hardened lawyers and publicists. Teddy goes along with this effort to maintain his standing among his constituents - Kennedy had been a sitting senator from Massachusetts since 1962. Ultimately, Chappaquiddick paints Ted Kennedy as a man lacking empathy and too cowardly to preserve his integrity by adhering to a moral code. Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) is startlingly good as Teddy Kennedy. Every internal battle Kennedy fights is wrought into flesh by Clarke as we watch his face twist and writhe with pride in some moments and shame in others. Ed Helms (The Hangover) and Jim Gaffigan (Chuck) both play against type in roles that require no comedic talent whatsoever, and both deliver outstanding performances. The aforementioned domineering father is played masterfully by Bruce Dern (Nebraska). Chappaquiddick excels in continuously building suspense as we wait to discover which course Kennedy will take in facing the consequences of the accident. Of course, there is also the tension of trying to discern the facts of the accident as the film shows various versions of the event in Rashomon fashion. Of course, with Senator Kennedy having passed away in 2009, no one will ever know what really happened in that car, in that pond, or on the shore afterwards. In fact, theorizing about the accident and its immediate aftermath has become a cottage industry. Was Kennedy driving or was it Kopechne? Was one of them drinking? Or both? Or Neither? How did Kennedy get out of the car while Kopechne did not? Was either of them wearing a seatbelt? And most importantly, did Kennedy try to rescue Kopechne or did he swim to shore and watch as she struggled and drowned? In its day, the Chappaquiddick incident was a huge scandal and a media sensation. It derailed Kennedy's presidential ambitions for 1972 and 1976 and though he would run in 1980, Chappaquiddick would continue to haunt him, and he failed to secure the democratic nomination. Kennedy never did live down the incident and many people held him responsible in one way or another for Mary Jo Kopechne's death for the rest of his life. Whether those people were right or wrong, we'll never know, but Chappaquiddick, the film, is a more than worthy attempt to find meaning in the tragedy and get to the root of the controversy that loomed so large in the life of a man who ultimately was considered "The Lion of the Senate" but never could fulfill the ambitions so many had for him.