Jason Clarke In Talks For CHAPPAQUIDDICK

Terminator Genisys co-star Jason Clarke is in talks to star in Chappaquiddick. Clarke will play the young Senator Ted Kennedy, who, in 1969, was in an auto accident on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts that left political campaign specialist Mary Jo Kopechne dead and a permanent cloud of the politician’s life and career.

John Curran is set to direct the film, which should be in front of cameras by the end of summer.

Clarkes’ career so far has been on an interesting climb. He first major role was in Zero Dark Thirty and followed that up with two performances in 2013 – White House Down and The Great Gatsby. Following that up with good work in Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and Everest, Everest’s only really black stain on his resume is Terminator Genisys.

The studio’s plot synopsis reads as follows –

The biographical drama takes place the eve of the moon landing when Senator Ted Kennedy becomes entangled in a tragic car accident that results in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. Over the course of the next seven days, the Senator struggles to decide between following his own moral compass or using his power and influence to protect the family legacy.

This is one of those films that has a bit more of a personal interest for me by nature of where I live. Mary Jo Kopechne is from a small Pennsylvania town just across the Susquehanna River from me. Her burial spot is only a few miles away and the story still looms large in the minds of the region’s residents even now decades later.