Jon Hamm & 'Richard Jewell' Cast Respond To Backlash Over Film at Atlanta Screening!

The cast of Clint Eastwood‘s movie Richard Jewell are defending Olivia Wilde‘s role!

While attending the Atlanta screening of Richard Jewell at Rialto Center for the Arts on Tuesday (December 10), the cast spoke out for the first time since the Atlanta Journal Constitution called the film “defamatory.”

In the film, Olivia Wilde portrays AJC reporter Kathy Scruggs offering to trade sex with FBI agent John Shaw for the name of their prime suspect in the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta, Richard Jewell.

Jon Hamm, who plays Tom Shaw in the movie, called the comments ridiculous: “It’s my understanding that the people making these accusations haven’t seen the film yet. I kind of feel like the irony in that is sort of ridiculous. Kathy is portrayed by Olivia in this film as she was, which is an incredibly nuanced individual. To reduce her to this one thing is not fair,” he said (via 11 Alive). “I think that there were certainly suggestions of impropriety with her character, but there are also some suggestions of impropriety with the character that I play and that’s part of the tragedy of this story.”

Paul Walter Hauser, who stars as Jewell, didn’t appear to be concerned by the backlash.

“I think the feeling is that it sorta came out of nowhere,” Paul explained. “This project has been around for about 5 years. It was a very famous screen play. It had Leo (Leonardo DeCaprio) attached to it at some point. They could have done their digging. It was the last minute decision by the AJC, and while I appreciate their opinion I’m not going to let it be a shrouded or shadow over the celebration of this moment for the Jewell family.”

Jon Hamm and Paul were joined at the event by their co-stars Kathy Bates, Sam Rockwell, Franco Castan and Josh Henry, director Clint Eastwood, Jewell‘s real-life mother Barbara “Bobi” Jewell and Watson Bryant Jr., real-life attorney and friend of Richard Jewell.