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Hanks to debunk JFK conspiracies
08/06/2007 21:34 - (SA)
Los Angeles - Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks is to produce a television mini-series debunking the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of president John F Kennedy, Variety said on Thursday.
Hanks and his partner in the Playtone production house, Gary Goetzman, will be the executive producers on the project which will adapt the book Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F Kennedy.
"I think that we will finally be able to make a substantial dent in the 75% of people in this country who still believe the conspiracy theorists," author Vincent Bugliosi told the industry insider, Variety.
'Embarrassed that you ever believed'
His 1 630-page tome backs the official version of events that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he shot and killed Kennedy on November 22 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
"I totally believed there was a conspiracy, but after you read the book, you are almost embarrassed that you ever believed it," Goetzman told Variety.
"To think that guys who grew up in the '60s would make a mini-series supporting the idea that Oswald acted alone is something I certainly wouldn't have predicted. But time and evidence can change the way we view things."
Playtone is in negotiations with the TV channel HBO to diffuse the 10-part series.
Oliver Stone's movie JFK which came out in 1991, starring Kevin Costner, was heavily criticised for supporting the theory that there was a plot to kill Kennedy.
'Stone hinted that vice-president was involved'
Stone even hinted that Kennedy's vice-president and successor, Lyndon Johnson, could have been involved.
Hanks, 50, is one of Hollywood's best paid actors, reportedly earning $25m per film.
He won back-to-back best actor Oscars for his roles in 1993's Philadelphia and 1994's Forrest Gump, and has also become one of Hollywood's most powerful producers and directors.
He will next be seen on film in the political film Charlie Wilson's War starring Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
- AFP
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South Africa
