実話に基づいたイーストウッド最新作、記者の枕営業シーンに抗議の声

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】クリント・イーストウッド監督の実話を基にした最新作『リチャード・ジュエル』で、女性記者が情報と引き換えに「枕営業」をする描写があり、論争を招いている。実在の記者が所属していた新聞社側は、「衝撃的」で「真実ではない」描写をめぐり法的手段をとる姿勢も見せている。（写真は米カリフォルニア州ハリウッドで行われた『リチャード・ジュエル』のワールドプレミアに出席するクリント・イーストウッド監督）
　同作は、１９９６年アトランタ五輪での爆破事件の容疑者とされ、メディアの過熱報道に打ちのめされた無実の男性、リチャード・ジュエル氏を描く。
　当時警備員だったジュエル氏は、パイプ爆弾を発見して英雄扱いされた。しかし間もなくして、アトランタ・ジャーナル・コンスティテューション（ＡＪＣ）紙のキャシー・スクラッグス記者らが、米連邦捜査局（ＦＢＩ）がジュエル氏を容疑者とみていることを突き止めた。
　劇中には、米女優オリヴィア・ワイルド演じるスクラッグス記者が、容疑者の身元情報を得ることと引き換えにＦＢＩ捜査官と性的関係を持つ場面がある。
　これについてＡＪＣの編集者、ケビン・Ｇ・ライリー氏は、「わが社の記者の描写は衝撃的であり、真実ではない」と述べ、明らかに映画のために脚色されたものだとＡＦＰに述べた。
　ＡＪＣの親会社、コックス・エンタープライズは９日、イーストウッド監督と米映画大手ワーナー・ブラザースに書簡を送り、場面の一部が脚色されたものであることを正式発表するよう要求した。
　コックス・エンタープライズは書簡で、ＡＪＣとその従業員が「中傷的な方法で誤って描かれている」と訴えている。
　映画には現在、「歴史的事実に基づく」との注意書きが添えられているが、クレジットの最後の最後に、「演出のために」せりふや場面の一部が付け加えられたとの説明がある。
　ライリー氏は「このような説明は、観客に真の状況を知らせることを真剣に考えた映画監督による説明には見えない」と指摘した。
　これに対してワーナー・ブラザースは、同作が「広範囲にわたる信頼性の高い情報源」に基づいていると主張。ジュエル氏が疑われていると真っ先に報じたメディアの一つであるＡＪＣが「映画の制作陣とキャストを中傷しようとしているのは残念であり、結果的に皮肉なことだ」と述べ、「ＡＪＣの訴えには根拠がなく、われわれは断固として対抗していく」とした。
　オリヴィア・ワイルドは１２日、ツイッターの投稿で、キャシーがお金のために性的関係を持ったとは思わないと述べた。情報を得るために性的関係を持ったのではなく、二人の間に恋愛感情が存在していたように映画では描かれていると理解していたという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/12/16-09:14）

Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood was at the center of a firestorm Thursday over his latest movie depicting a reporter trading sex for stories -- prompting legal threats over the shocking and untrue portrayal from her real-life newspaper.
Richard Jewell dramatizes the story of the innocent man who found himself targeted in a devastating media frenzy following a deadly blast at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Jewell was initially hailed as a hero after he spotted the pipe bomb but was soon identified by journalists including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Kathy Scruggs as an FBI suspect.
Scruggs, portrayed by Olivia Wilde, is depicted in the movie trading sex with an FBI agent in exchange for learning the suspect's identity.
The portrayal of our reporter is shocking, untrue and an obvious Hollywood trope, editor Kevin G. Riley told AFP.
The film commits the very sin that it purports to accuse the media of. It literally makes things up in telling the story.
Never arrested or charged, Jewell was cleared by the FBI after 88 days. But TV networks camped outside his home for the duration, hounding Jewell, who became the subject of wild speculation and ridicule.
Cox Enterprises, the newspaper's owner, on Monday sent a letter to Eastwood and Warner Bros demanding it release a public statement stating some events were imagined for dramatic purposes.
The letter says the paper and its staff are portrayed in a false and defamatory manner.
- 'Rush to judgment' -
It also demands a prominent disclaimer be added to the film to that effect.
The film currently has a disclaimer, stating it is based on actual historical events but created some dialogue and events for the purposes of dramatization, at the very end of the credits.
It doesn't look like the kind of disclaimer that would be placed by a filmmaker who was seriously concerned about making the audience aware of the truth of the situation, said Riley.
It is not the first time critics have raised eyebrows at the movies of 89-year-old Eastwood, who won Oscars for directing Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).
Gran Torino (2008) and The Mule (2018) were criticized for the frequent racial epithets spoken by their lead characters -- both Korean War veterans played by the director himself -- while American Sniper (2014) was dismissed by some critics as jingoistic propaganda.
Warner Bros has responded to the Richard Jewell letter with a statement insisting the film is based on a wide range of highly credible source material.
It is unfortunate and the ultimate irony that the Atlanta Journal Constitution, having been a part of the rush to judgment of Richard Jewell, is now trying to malign our filmmakers and cast, it says.
The AJC's claims are baseless and we will vigorously defend against them, the statement concludes.
Wilde tweeted Thursday: Contrary to a swath of recent headlines, I do not believe that Kathy 'traded sex for tips.'
Nothing in my research suggested she did so, and it was never my intention to suggest she had. That would be an appalling and misogynistic dismissal of the difficult work she did.
She had understood the film's dramatization would show the pair in a pre-existing romantic relationship, rather than a transactional exchange of sex for information, she added.
In the film, the FBI agent played by Jon Hamm appears surprised by the reporter's willingness to sleep with him for the story.
- 'Simply lost' -
In real life, Jewell sued several news outlets for defamation, claiming their stories depicted him as someone with an odd personality who was probably guilty.
The Journal-Constitution never settled with Jewell, and a court later ruled its reports on the bombing investigation in their entirety were substantially true at the time they were published.
In 2007, Jewell died of natural causes, at the age of 44.
The story of Richard Jewell is important, said Riley. It's certainly worthy of film.
In this telling of it, important truths of what really happened are simply lost.