Photo credit: Neshan H. Naltchayan
“It’s a real thrill to be here tonight,” said Howard Owens – President, National Geographic Channels – at the World Premiere screening of Killing Kennedy at The Newseum.
“I met with Rob in Los Angeles before we even had a script, and that’s when we just knew Rob had to play this role,” Owens remembers. “I sat staring at Rob, my man crush in full bloom, calculating in my mind just how we were going to land Rob for this role. Rob is not only one of the best and most versatile actors of this generation, Rob is also a student of politics, of people and of history. When he agreed to play JFK, he elevated the status of our channel. No one works harder, and there is no greater partner than Rob Lowe.”
Howard Owens, Rob Lowe, Senator John Thune (R-SD) and Bill O’Reilly
“First, Killing Kennedy is the creation of our partner Bill O’Reilly.” added Owens, “who again takes an infamous moment in American history, one that most are familiar with, and he puts a provocative title on it. People want to be outraged, but then the book comes out. It has a fresh narrative that is authentic. It is an incredibly well-crafted story and it resonates with millions of readers around the globe.” O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln, also a NatGeo production, won accolades for the network.
Rob Lowe and Bill O’Reilly
“In spite of the wonderful groundswell behind our movie tonight,” said Lowe., “in a moment it should be a culminating experience for me. I actually realize tonight will be the end of my career because I did take a photo on the red carpet with Bill O’Reilly. So Bill, I know you’ve got a big contract over there. When I’m indigent, I’m coming to you and my hands will be out.”
Rob Lowe and Bill O’Reilly
Lowe, the self proclaimed political junkie was, of course, referring to O’Relly’s commanding presence on the conservative Fox News Channel. “Hollywood was and is a one-party town,” Lowe said. As for his own political proclivities, it’s hard to identify: In 1988 he backed Democratic Presidential hopeful Michael Dukakis and years later Republican Governor Arnold Swartzenegger.
Dana and Nelson McCormick, Rob Lowe and his wife, Sheryl Berkoff
On playing Kennedy, Lowe says he was interested in getting the look and the accent in place first; then he was interested in knowing JFK from a human perspective because at the end of the day he was just a man. That’s what he wanted to portray best. “It’s great to have the support of everyone at National Geographic,” injected Lowe. “I work all over the place. I work at NBC, I work for HBO. You name it, if the check clears, I’m going to be there but I’ve never had better partner. The way that you’ve supported this movie, the way you stepped up on every possible way that you could have, should have, and did, it is a rarity and you’re going to see it up on the screen.”
Killing Kennedy aired on the NatGeo Channel on November 10th, just 12 days prior to the anniversary of the November 22nd,1963 assassination of the 35th President of the United States.
The movie was as much, if not more, about the Oswalds, Marina and Lee Harvey.
“Killing Kennedy” executive producer David Zucker and actress Michelle Trachtenberg (Marina Oswald)
Hollywood on the Potomac asked Will Rothhaar, who plays Lee Harvey Oswald, if he learned anything new about the assassination or about the Oswalds.
“Well, about the assassination,” he replied, “about the facts of that, they have been spelled out pretty frequently. What I learned about Oswald that I didn’t know was that after reading interviews about him from his bosses and people who worked with him is that a lot of people that he worked for were like: ‘Oh, he was a very quiet guy, he wasn’t very bright. He kind of kept to himself.’ I found quite the contrary.”
Will Rothhaar
“I did find that he was definitely a quiet guy,” he explained, “but he’s also very bright. He’s very clever. He’s very well spoken, very articulate. He knew he had his opinions, they all leaned sometimes very strongly in one direction or another, but he knew what he was talking about and people that knew him, like friends of his that he had in Russia, really liked him. I was happy to find that out because he’s always been seen as this two-dimensional villain. It was really nice to find people that had different things to say about him.”
Michelle Trachtenberg (Marina Oswald)
We were curious about Marina. Did they have an opportunity to interview her for the movie? “No,” he said. “It’s very strange. People didn’t have the chance to interview his wife and she hasn’t reached out to us. I mean I would love to speak with her at some point, but I’m going to leave that up to her because I want to be respectful and not invade that privacy.”
Kay Kendall and David Lyle, CEO of The National Geographic Channel
“When I started at National Geographic Channel some years ago,” remarked David Lyle, CEO, “ I really had a simple vision which was to take subject matter that was traditional topics for National Geographic and then explore them in nontraditional ways, and tonight is a great example of that. The history of the Kennedy assassination, but brought to you as a drama, as a movie.”
The Trailer:
