We talked to the investigative journalist-turned-director about stripping away the mythology of JFKs assassination, and how reporting from war zones prepared him for a movie set.
There are few moments as culturally pored-over and historicized than the JFK assassination, and one might wonder what another film - especially in the long shadow of Oliver Stones JFK - could bring to the topic, and yet Peter Landesmans debut feature, Parkland, manages to shed new light on a subject that many had thought was already exhausted.
A former journalist, Landesman brings to his filmmaking an investigative eye for detail, portraying the minutiae of culturally-mythologized events with such specificity that the veneer of history is lifted and we see the JFK assassination in a new light - not as a set-in-stone narrative, but as a shocking event that happened to real people, with plenty of confusion and plenty of characters whose roles have now been forgotten.
Among those are Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti), who shot the only footage of the assassination; Forrest Sorrels (Billy Bob Thornton), who was running the Secret Service detail at the time of the attack; Jim Carrico (Zac Efron), a doctor who operated on both JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald; and, perhaps most touchingly, Robert Oswald (James Badge Dale), the innocent brother of Lee Harvey.
By telling the stories of these characters mostly lost in the tide of history, Landesman has managed to create a work that highlights the manner in which the official historical record of culturally significant events is often quite lacking. I had the chance to discuss the film with Landesman recently.
Tribeca: How did your background in journalism influence your filmmaking abilities? I think theres actually a strong link between the two disciplines.
Peter Landesman: I think it helped me in three ways. One is that the relationship between a director and actor is not that dissimilar from the relationship between journalist and source. In both cases youre trying to get something from someone who may not want to give it, or who may not even know what they have. Its the idea of having a narrative, an architecture that youre chasing, and needing that source or actor to help make it happen. Secondly, I wanted to get this movie right - I spent years making sure that this was all true. I knew it would be controversial with all the conspiracy obsessives out there. So every scene in real life happened, for the most part, in the way it happened in the film. I wanted to provide some verisimilitude after fifty years. Its how I felt about United 93 and 9/11, how I felt about the opening of Saving Private Ryan. That was my approach to the research. And then, in shooting the film I wanted to give a sense of subjective presence - I wanted to create a visceral experience, to give the audience a sense of being there. Thats how journalism was helpful.
Weve seen what the assassination looks like. I didnt want to recreate that.
Tribeca: The idea of verisimilitude - I was particularly struck by how well the assassination scene was done. You dont even realize whats happened until its over, which I imagine is what it was like in real life.
Peter Landesman: Didnt get it, didnt know it, people had a visceral sense that something horrible had happened. I didnt want the gunshots to be 50-caliber sniper rifle shots, or from a Howitzer, because people werent sure what it was. Was it a car backfiring? Was it a firecracker? You know, a .22 rifle has a very specific sound to it. I wanted the assassination to play ordinary, because it was so fucking big. Everything that happened after was Shakespearean. Also, weve seen what the assassination looks like. I didnt want to recreate that.
Tribeca: Its interesting, to present such a mythologized cultural moment in such a simple fashion. Youre cutting away at the mythology and revealing that its a real thing that really happened, a simple moment in time.
Peter Landesman: You know, the movie ends before any of that begins - theyre still burying the bodies, still terrified, still not sure what really happened. You kind of put your finger on the raison detre of the movie, which is to strip away the retroactive gloss and get to the human experience. You just never see it like that because weve been so distracted by the noise, the conspiracy noise, which will never end. Thats why I made the movie, exactly what you said. I think when audiences see it they expect to see just another version of what theyve already seen, and so people are shocked - and Im glad theyre shocked. I was shocked when I started finding this stuff out.
Tribeca: How did you come across the character of Lee Harvey Oswalds brother?
Peter Landesman: Well, I knew about Robert Oswald. I knew he existed but I didnt know who he was. Then I started digging, talking to people who met him, and then - theres this great book about Margeurite Oswald called A Mother And History, and reading it, I was like, theres the rosetta stone of the assassination. Shes so nuts. So I get Lee and his psychology, but who is this other guy? And then I realized that Robert was just us. He woke up one day and his brothers the devil. To me hes kind of the spiritual angel of the movie. I even came to feel empathy for Lee Harvey Oswald. I get him.
Tribeca: Its a fantastic cast you put together as a first-time director. What was the process like of developing the working relationships you had with this variety of actors?
Peter Landesman: I hired actors who I thought were the best options for the roles, so its my nature to wait and see what they bring. With many actors we talked a great deal about motivation and who the characters were, but you know, every take they give you something different, usable, interesting, equally as good as any of the other takes. Then there are others who swim, who are trying to touch t
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We talked to the investigative journalist-turned-director about stripping away the mythology of JFKs assassination, and how reporting from war zones prepared him for a movie set. 
