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John F. Kennedy movie to star John Travolta, Al Pacino, and more

The film is directed by David Mamet and follows the death of Kennedy.

The new JFK film is stacked with talented actors. The film, titled “Assassination,” will be directed by David Mamet, and takes on a novel angle to the well explored story of John F. Kennedy’s murder.

President John F. Kennedy on First Day in Office©GettyImages
John F. Kennedy

Deadline reports that the film is written by Nicholas Celozzi, who was inspired by his great uncle, the Chicago mobster Sam Giancana. The film will be told from the perspective of the mafia and how it allegedly arranged the murder of Kennedy as revenge for messing with their business when they were the ones who initially helped put him in office. Celozzi showed the script to the surviving family members of the Giancana family, who told him he was about 85 percent correct with his version of the story. Mamet, who’s an incredibly revered writer, will also be working on the script.

Another intriguing part of the film is the cast, made up of Al Pacino, Viggo Mortensen, Rebecca Pidgeon, Shia LaBeouf, John Travolta, Courtney Love, and more.

94th Annual Academy Awards - Governors Ball©GettyImages
John Travolta

“Nick wrote and sent me this script, and it’s a helluva script,” said Mamet. “Really inside stuff, similar to what Francis Coppola did with Mario Puzo in ‘The Godfather.’ That’s the great American film, but it’s got very little to do with the book. What’s The Godfather really about? Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo sitting around a kitchen table and telling the stories they overheard of their grandparents. That’s why we love that movie, it reeks of being inside, of family and cultural myths presented like gossip. It’s the stuff Nick heard around the kitchen table from the people who knew. It’s incredibly yummy. It made me say, I would love to make this movie, and here we are.”

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