“Chappaquiddick” star Jason Clarke is a little bit frustrated.
Clarke, who plays former Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., told Deadline in an interview last week “the left doesn’t want to engage at all [on this film].”
“We’re finding it really hard to find footing with these guys that are out there, nightly news pushing an agenda, conspiracy, Russia, Russia, Russia, Stormy Daniels, Stormy Daniels, Stormy Daniels,” Clarke said. “They just don’t want to talk about this, and I find that really odd and upsetting.”
Earlier in the interview, Clarke actually named names, calling out HBO host Bill Maher and MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow for allegedly declining offers to cover the film. “We’ve definitely gotten a lot interest from the right from Fox, but the left are not engaging. Bill Maher and Rachel Maddow passed on covering the film. I think Chris Mathews is still considering but hasn’t committed, and the New York Times isn’t really entering into a dialogue about it,” the Australian-born actor explained.
“Why won’t Rachel Maddow have us on her show to talk about how we feel about this now?” wondered Clarke.
Asked by Deadline why it took 50 years for the story of Kennedy’s role in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne to be told, Clarke replied, “I think it had been around for a while and nobody wanted to do it. People were still very wary of it. It’s not just the Kennedys. Do I see The New York Times doing a piece on, let’s look at our coverage then and how we’d have written about it now?”
Though Clarke called Kennedy’s legislative “legacy” “mightily impressive, ” he also argued, “we paid a heavy price for lauding Ted Kennedy as the Lion of the Senate and everything else.”
“I think it’s time to examine what that price is because at the moment politics is way out of control,” said Clarke.
“Chappaquiddick” executive producer Byron Allen claimed last week that “some very powerful people” tried to pressure him out of making the film.
Though Kennedy allies may be uncomfortable with it, the Kopechne family sees “Chappaquiddick” as an opportunity for Mary Jo to be remembered as a person. “For 49 years people have wanted to know what happened,” Kopechne’s aunt, Georgetta Potoski, told People last month. “Maybe now Mary Jo will be brought to the forefront and remembered not just for how she died but for who she was.”
