News & Politics

Rob Lowe to Play JFK in National Geographic’s “Killing Kennedy”

The “West Wing” actor returns to the White House—this time as the President.

Photograph by s_bukley/Shutterstock.

The National Geographic Channel has announced that it will make a movie of the book

Killing Kennedy, which traces the lives of John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald until they fatally
cross in Dallas, Texas. The casting that’s been announced so far is intriguing.
Rob Lowe is set to play JFK,
Ginnifer Goodwin will be First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, and Marina Oswald will be played by
Michelle Trachtenberg. More roles are still to be filled, including presumably Lee Harvey Oswald.

Four weeks of filming is scheduled to begin June 10 in Richmond (because it looks

so much like Washington, DC). It bears noting that the book on which the film is based
was written by Fox News talk show host
Bill O’Reilly and
Martin Dugard. The film’s producers are O’Reilly,
Ridley Scott,
David Zucker, and
Mary Lisio. O’Reilly and Dugard co-authored a previous bestseller,
Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assasination That Changed America Forever.

Casting continues for the film, and local actors who are interested can contact the
Erica Arvold casting agency. According
to the site, characters still to be cast include President Lyndon Johnson and his
wife, Lady Bird, Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, Jack Ruby, Secret Service agent Clint Hill,
and another couple dozen individuals who are part of the book and history. On its
casting page, the Arvold agency says: “The period for this project is 1963, and we
have taken great care to include photos of the real characters below, so please take
time to scroll through and submit appropriately.” So, aspiring actors, take note:
Here’s a chance to be in a Rob Lowe movie or, at the very least, a Kennedy film.

The film will air on the Nat Geo channel in November to coincide with the 50th anniversary
of President Kennedy’s assassination.