David Mamet's Coming JFK Film Stokes the Experts

Barry Levinson is directing a new 'Mafia done it' flick, and JFK researchers are already debating its premise

British scholar John Simkin writes with Hollywood news.

Barry Levinson is going to direct ‘Assassination,’ a new film about the murder of President John F. Kennedy. David Mamet, who wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Celozzi, was slated to direct the film, but has now stepped away from that role and turned it over to Levinson.

Levinson made a string of good movies in the 1980s, starting with “Diner,” a charming story of his youth in Baltimore. For Mamet’s vehicle, Levinson inherits an A-List cast that includes Al Pacino, John Travolta, Viggo Mortensen, Shia LaBeouf, and Courtney Love. Pacino will play Tony Accardo, a powerful figure in the Mafia’s Chicago organization, known as the Chicago Outfit.