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History today announced the primary cast of Joel Surnow’s miniseries The Kennedys. (release below.) For the past three years, HBO also had been working on a JFK miniseries with Playtone’s Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and Bill Paxton. The project, based on Vincent Bugliosi’s book “Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, is still in development at the premium cable channel.
New York, NY, April 28, 2010 – Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper, Katie Holmes and Tom Wilkinson are set to star in the upcoming HISTORY eight-hour, scripted mini-series based on The Kennedy family, THE KENNEDYS. The announcement was made today by Nancy Dubuc, President and General Manager, HISTORY.
Mr. Kinnear will play the role of President John F. Kennedy. Barry Pepper stars as Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Ms. Holmes will play First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and Tom Wilkinson will portray Ambassador Joe Kennedy, Sr. The miniseries will premiere on HISTORY in 2011.
“When HISTORY announced this ambitious project in December, our goal was A-list auspices behind and in front of the camera. The amazing cast we announced today including; Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper, Katie Holmes and Tom Wilkinson is emblematic of that goal,” said Ms. Dubuc.
THE KENNEDYS is the network’s first foray into scripted miniseries. Executive Producer Joel Surnow developed the series with Asylum’s Jonathan Koch and Steve Michaels for Muse Entertainment Enterprises. Steve Kronish is writing the screenplay for the series, which is currently being annotated and vetted by History’s resident historians. Jon Cassar will direct. Steve Gillon, Ph.D, will serve as the lead historical advisor on the series.
THE KENNEDYS is produced for HISTORY by Muse Entertainment in association with Asylum Entertainment. The series will be executive produced by Joel Surnow, Jonathan Koch, Steve Michaels, Michael Prupas, Jon Cassar and Jamie Paul Rock. For HISTORY, Nancy Dubuc, David McKillop, Dirk Hoogstra are Executive Producers.
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Who will play Gloria Swanson and Sam Giancana?
I know, I’m a stinker.
Furious D: i was just wondering that too! i hope they put someone in to play her i wana see her in this!
Jeez! Another Kennedy bio? Come on… No wonder people say Hollywood lacks any new ideas. Yeah,the Kennedys were sexy and the end is dramatic and mysterious, but how many more times do we need another rehash? Snore.
Snore? Seriously?
Personally, I don’t care if it is a show about a coffee cup as long as it is not about about some vapid reality bullshit. This cast looks great and I would love to see what they do with Wilkinson. There is so much story here that has still not been explored on a historical level without the conspiracy. 13 Days was just a touch of what this could be.
Actually, you may be right, The Pacific is just another rehash of an old WW2 story…
Or you just may be an idiot.
Congrats to Nancy Duboc for coming up with new scripted content for History. However, the casting of Katie Holmes as Jackie O seems like an April Fool’s joke. Katie Holmes is a horrible one-dimensional “actress.”
Not true.
I’ll be there. Sounds good. Greg Kinnear is shaping up to be a fine actor. I hope he can pull off JFK. And Wilkinson is good in everything.
Wow Barry “Battlefield Earth” Pepper?! Isn’t this the same Kennedys series that Robert Greenwald calls “political character assassination“?
Someone made a video about the script at stopkennedysmears.com
Why this? Can’t the History Channel just do a show about WWII war machines or something? That would be great.
Has anyone read this script yet? History Channel has taken a lot of heat for hiring a right-winger like Surnow to do a Kennedy story. Is Koch related to the billionare, conversative fundie Koch family? This has the makings of a smear job.
Yes, several historians have read the script, and Ted Sorensen, who was JFK’s Special Counsel and adviser, friend and speechwriter for 11 years; they all got advance copies of the scripts and state the scripts are not historically accurate by a long shot (check out http://www.stopkennedysmears.com).
The History Channel needs to turn a profit/make some money… need more be said?
The screenwriter is Stephen Kronish. Despite his association with Joel Surnow through 24, Kronish (like several other writers/producers on 24) is a self-ascribed liberal Democrat.
Joel Surnow is nothing less than a fascist. 24 has done more to legitimize torture in the eyes of the American public than even the Bush administration or every Republican under sun has. There’s going to be a special place in hell for that right-wing slime to burn in, and there’s no way I’d watch a story about the Kennedys that he had anything to do with. It’d be like watching a story about FDR produced by Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck.
Or like anything in the mainstream media that ever depicted Bush or Nixon. Or like Hollywood progressives who depict the American military in one tired, failed, lefty cliched flick after another. Or like the way Letterman, Schultz, Obermann, Maher et al skewered Palin and others but have their heads up elsewhere when it comes to ACORN abuses and those who’d love to blow us all up, even you, with all your righteous indignation and clenched butt cheeks.
Katie Holmes? Really??
So Mr Cruise bought his wife another role as she wouldn’t get this part based on merit or acting chops.
How sad.
…says the person who feels the need to comment on it in an Internet message board. You’re a real role model for the species.
…says the person who feels the need to defend KH on an Internet message board.
Brian Pepper is to star in this?
What were they thinking!!!!?????
So is the History Channel a scientology owned or connected company or is the miniseries just being funded by them? It’s not just Katie Holmes. Tom Wilkinson is a scientologist I believe and I always assumed Barry Pepper was because of the starring role in Battlefield Earth. I never heard anything about Kinnear being with their group but he does seem tied to 3 or 4 previous movies involving scientologist characters or Kelly Preston and other prominent members.
It just jumped out as Scientology funded all around based on the cast. I don’t know if that means anything about the material or just a chance to fund some acting careers.
I have to agree with Nanea. I’ve seen enough Katie Holmes in enough films to agree that she’s a horrendous actress. How she got the part is purely speculation, but I do agree that she’s absolutely wrong for the role of an American Icon like Jackie. I’m disappointed.
I might have watched as I like Greg Kinnear, but I won’t be able to stomach Katie Holmes. Too bad they couldn’t find someone for such an interesting role who would have actually made it interesting.
Remember kids, scientologists always work in pairs on film projects. This time out – Barry Pepper and Katie Holmes.
Katie Holmes was great on Dawson’s Creek.
I’m both surprised and saddened to see Tom Hanks buy in to Bugliosi’s whitewash of the Kennedy assassination. Hanks is obviously an intelligent fellow, and should therefore realize that Kennedy was killed by people in his own government. Anyone who has really STUDIED the JFK Assassination knows THAT!
I Dont agree I think she will look the part an play the part well
Tess Dingman is part of the cast. she went to camp with me and was telling us about the mini series.
Well, it’s just been announced that The History Channel WILL NOT be airing the Kennedy miniseries. Supposedly too much political pressure made them cave in on the issue. Stupid, as they’ll sell it off to Showtime and it’ll make the air anyway!
Showtime turned it down, too.
Oh, you can be sure it’ll show up somewhere! I forget the channel, but it was just announced that it will be shown here in Canada!