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The chief executive from the film studio behind a movie about the Chappaquiddick scandal has said he was pressured to dump the project.
Byron Allen, the CEO of Entertainment Studios and the executive producer of Chappaquiddick, says ‘some very powerful people…tried to put pressure’ on him ‘not to release this movie.’
‘They went out of their way to try and influence me in a negative way,’ he told Variety.
‘I made it very clear that I’m not about the right, I’m not about the left.
‘I’m about the truth.’
Chappaquiddick refers to the island next to Martha’s Vineyard which was the site of a 1969 car accident that killed a female companion of then-Senator Ted Kennedy.
Late at night on July 18, 1969, Kennedy drove his car off a bridge with Mary Jo Kopechne in the passenger seat.
Kopechne, 28, who was trapped inside the car as it sank in the water, drowned while Kennedy swam to safety.
Kennedy reported the accident the following day after Kopechne’s body was recovered.
He denied he was drunk at the time of the crash. Kennedy, who was married, also denied he was having an affair with Kopechne.
The then-senator pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a crash causing personal injury. He received a suspended sentence of two months in jail.
Chappaquiddick likely ruined any chance Kennedy had of being elected president.
The film, starring Kate Mara as Kopechne, was screened in Beverly Hills this week before its limited release on Friday.
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