''Killing Kennedy'' is a 2013 American

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...

TV film directed by Nelson McCormick and written by Kelly Masterson, based on the 2012 non-fiction book of the same title by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard. The film stars

Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and entertainment host. Following numerous television roles in the early 1980s, he came to prominence as a teen idol and member of the Brat Pack with starring roles in ...

, Will Rothhaar,

Ginnifer Goodwin Ginnifer Goodwin (born Jennifer Michelle Goodwin on May 22, 1978) is an American actress. She starred as Margene Heffman in the HBO drama series ''Big Love'' (2006–2011), Mary Margaret Blanchard, Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard in the Am ...

, and

Michelle Trachtenberg Michelle Christine Trachtenberg (October 11, 1985 – February 26, 2025) was an American actress. After beginning her career in television commercials at age three, she made her television debut in her first credited role on the Nickelodeon ser ...

. It dramatizes the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

and

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

, as well as the life of

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at age 12 for truan ...

in the years leading up to the assassination. It premiered in the United States and Canada on

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

on November 10, 2013, followed by the various European National Geographic channels a few days later. It was first shown on terrestrial TV in the UK by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

on November 23, 2013 and in South Korea on November 21, 2013.

Plot summary

The plot follows the rise of

(Lowe) as he becomes President of the United States. As Kennedy's career shapes,

(Rothhaar), a former marine, begins to grow disillusioned with the US. Their paths ultimately cross and results in Oswald's assassination of Kennedy.

Main cast

* Will Rothhaar as

Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

Marina Oswald Marina Nikolayevna Oswald Porter (; born July 17, 1941) is a Russian–American former pharmacist who was the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald. Born in the Soviet Union in 1941, she immigrated to the United States after marrying United States Marine C ...

* Jack Noseworthy as

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

* Francis Guinan as

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

* Richard Flood as Kenny O'Donnell * Natalie Gold as Ruth Paine * Jamie McShane as US Moscow Embassy

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Richard Edward Snyder * Brian Hutchison as USSS Special Agent Winston Lawson *

Casey Siemaszko Kazimierz Andrew "Casey" Siemaszko (; born March 17, 1961) is an American actor. He had supporting roles in ''Back to the Future'' and '' Stand By Me'' before having starring roles in '' Three O'Clock High'' and '' Young Guns''. Personal life Sie ...

Jack Ruby Jack Leon Ruby (born Jacob Leon Rubenstein; March 25, 1911January 3, 1967) was an American nightclub owner who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24, 1963, two days after Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Born in Chicago, R ...

* Antoinette LaVecchia as

Lady Bird Johnson Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson (; December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 as the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. She had previously been Second Lady of the United States from 1961 to 196 ...

* Boris McGiver as

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

Special Agent John W. Fain * Matt Micou as J. D. Tippit *Keith Tyree as Governor

John Connally John Bowden Connally Jr. (February 27, 1917June 15, 1993) was an American politician who served as the 39th governor of Texas from 1963 to 1969 and as the 61st United States secretary of the treasury from 1971 to 1972. He began his career as a Hi ...

*Adrienne Nelson as Nellie Connally *Lucas N Hall as Officer Atwell *Roger W. Durrett as Admiral Arleigh Burke,

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the highest-ranking officer of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an Admiral (United States), admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the United States Secretary ...

*Danny McCarthy as Agent James P. Hosty *Parker Dowling as Buell Wesley Frazier *Mike Shiflett as Captain Will Fritz *Terry Menefee Gau as Nurse Doris Nelson *Joseph Gray as Sergeant Gerald Hill *

Mary Pat Gleason Mary Pat Gleason (February 23, 1950 – June 2, 2020) was an American film and television actress and an Emmy Award-winning writer. From 1983 to 1985, she appeared as "Jane Hogan" on the daytime soap opera ''Guiding Light'', for which she was als ...

as Marguerite Oswald

Production

After the success of ''

Killing Lincoln ''Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever'' is a book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard concerning the 1865 assassination of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln. The book was released on September 27, 2011, and is t ...

'',

announced it would produce a film adaptation of ''Killing Kennedy''. In May 2013, it was announced that

was to play

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

would play First Lady

, and

would portray

's wife

. Goodwin used intimate photos to better portray Jackie Kennedy and was concerned "to do her justice and to play her as accurately as possible without ever doing an impression of her." Costar

said of seeing Goodwin in the pink Chanel suit, "It made it real. If I were under any illusions about what we were doing, seeing her in that iconic moment was, I would say, sobering." While portraying Marina Oswald, Trachtenberg consulted her Russian-born mother for help in speaking Russian. Filming took place in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

Reception

On its original airing, it drew in 3,354,000 viewers, averaging a 1.1 rating with adults in the 25-54 demographic. The viewership broke the record previously held by ''

'' which averaged 3,351,000 viewers.

Critical response

''Killing Kennedy'' received mixed reviews from both viewers and critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the series holds an approval rating of 56% based on 18 reviews, with an average of 5.9/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, it has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{Robert F. Kennedy 2013 television films 2013 films 2013 biographical drama films 2013 crime drama films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films American biographical drama films American crime drama films American documentary television films American drama television films American biographical television films American crime television films Cultural depictions of John F. Kennedy Cultural depictions of Robert F. Kennedy Cultural depictions of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Cultural depictions of Lyndon B. Johnson Cultural depictions of Lee Harvey Oswald Cultural depictions of Jack Ruby Films about the assassination of John F. Kennedy Films about the Cuban Missile Crisis Films based on non-fiction books Films based on works by Martin Dugard (author) Films based on works by Bill O'Reilly (political commentator) Films directed by Nelson McCormick Films scored by Geoff Zanelli Films set in the 1960s Films set in Dallas Films set in Minsk Films set in the White House Films shot in Virginia National Geographic (American TV channel) original programming Scott Free Productions films Television films based on books English-language biographical drama films English-language documentary films English-language crime drama films