Seven years ago, the star studded film Bobby recounted the events leading up Robert F. Kennedy being shot in the Ambassador Hotel in 1968. Set to be released late next month is another star studded film, but this one is about the chaos that surrounded the assassination of Robert's brother, former President John F. Kennedy.
Parkland, writer/director Peter Landesman's feature debut, recounts the events that occurred on November 22, 1963, the day JFK was shot. While the driving point of the film is the fact that JFK was shot, the main focus of the film is on the other people that were affected by this tragedy as well, much like Bobby was. From the trailer, it seems that the central characters in the film's narrative are the staff at Parkland Memorial Hospital, the secret service agents that were assigned to the President, local law enforcement, the family of Lee Harvey Oswald as well as Oswald himself, and a local businessman who happened to be filming the motorcade as Kennedy was shot.
Zac Efron, playing the surgeon tasked with operating on JFK, receives top billing. Also starring are Billy Bob Thornton (Armageddon) as the head secret service agent, Paul Giamatti (Sideways) as the man who caught the shooting on tape, Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) as Lee Harvey Oswald's mother, Tom Welling (Smallville) as the secret service agent who was in the car with Kennedy, Ron Livingston (The Conjuring) as a member of the local FBI task force, and James Badge Dale (The Departed) as Oswald's brother.
Parkland is based on the book "Four Days in November," written by Vincent Bugliosi. The film is set to be released on September 20.