317 – Chappaquiddick (Patreon Selects)

What this episode covers

This week’s episode comes selected by one of our sponsor tier patrons over at our Patreon! The 2017 festival season brought us Chappaquiddick, director John Curran’s recounting of the titular incident where Senator Ted Kennedy was responsible in the accidental death of party secretary Mary Jo Kopechne. With Jason Clarke as Kennedy and Kate Mara as Kopechne, the film earned solid festival reviews (with even stronger notices for Clarke) but a planned qualifying release before the end of the year never came to be. This episode, we talk about the short life of Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures and the 2017 qualifying release for the film that was canceled. We also talk about Clarke’s career in grunt roles, the film’s frustrating post-script in relation to Ted Kennedy’s career, and Bill Crystal’s Oscar hosting duties. Topics also include vague movie titles, TIFF Galas, and Frederica Kimmel’s friend.

Distinct summary based on available episode metadata or transcript content.