Killing Kennedy on National Geographic Channel

Category: Television and Streaming

November 22, 2013 marks the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. There are several new documentaries and films about the man and his death. Killing Kennedy is based on the best-selling book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.

 

This film basically sketches the events that led to the assassination of the president. It’s an interesting overview of history and the events in the lives of the four main characters – John Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Marina Oswald. While it is not filled with a lot of inner content, it does give viewers an outline of the late 1950s to 1963 and the relationships of the First Family and of Lee and Marina.

 

Rob Lowe inhabits the role of President Kennedy and Ginnifer Goodwin steps into the iconic shoes of Jackie Kennedy. Will Rothhaar plays the part of Lee Oswald with eeriness and viewers will definitely despise the man. And Michelle Trachtenberg is the tragic character of Marina Oswald.

When asked at the recent Television Critics Association Press Tour what he felt about playing an important character of American history, Lowe said, “In terms of how you look at it, you just try to figure what can you individually bring, and, for me, it was very much about capturing him as a man. We all know the iconography of Kennedy. I was really interested in the details of what he was like as a father, as a brother, as a son, as a husband, as a flawed, complicated, and heroic guy, where those small details live.”

 

Goodwin is empathetic to the characters portrayed in the film. “I realized that I wanted this story I was telling of Jackie to be to be angled in such a way that it was based on everything that she said about herself and not base her on the way that others described her, and it took all of the pressure off, really, because it really was about all of these private moments – the things that happened behind closed doors. And no one knows anything about those moments. All we have are the things that, for instance, Jackie said after the fact,” Goodwin expressed. “And I hope that, in that way, we really humanize these people. I don’t feel that they have been thoroughly humanized in the past in other films.”

 

Rob Lowe acknowledged that today’s kids are not too familiar with the legacy of JFK, if they even know about him at all. He is happy to be a part of this film that will bring their story to a new generation of Americans.

 

Lowe also pointed out that the one characteristic he shares with JFK is that of being an optimist. “He was an optimist. He said we’ll put a man on the moon in ten years. I can’t think of any president before or after who would dare make that kind of prediction and then live up to it.”

 

As for playing the tortured wife of the accused assassin, Trachtenberg confided, “What I discovered about Marina is that she, at the end of the day, is a victim and was a victim. She’s still alive, and her daughters, I believe, are 50 and 52. I wanted to bring the innocence of a woman in love, a woman confused, all of those things I hadn’t played before.” 

 

 

In researching the character and reading the script, Michelle said, “I found it so interesting that Lee Harvey Oswald’s funeral was the same day as JFK’s, and Marina sat in her living room, watching JFK’s funeral up until the very second that she had to leave for her husband, which I think is for me, the definition of her character. She was in love with the President. She had a crush on him, and yet she loved the father of her children. So that sort of dynamic was really appealing.” And, by the way, most of Trachtenberg’s part in the film is done in Russian.

 

To prepare for her role as the famous First Lady, Goodwin sought out a dialect coach and as she said, she really nailed the voice of Jacqueline Kennedy. And, viewers familiar with JFK will undoubtedly agree that Rob Lowe is amazing as the president.

Killing Kennedy follows the four characters through the years as they move closer to the final act that ultimately linked all of them together in history. It is an interesting look at the people, the times, and the events that affected not only the country but also the world. Fifty years may seem like a long time, but in truth it is not. For those who remember the people and the events, the assassination was a short time ago. For the rest, it is a point in history. Killing Kennedy premiers November 10, 2013 on National Geographic Channel.