Byron Allen, the executive producer of the movie "Chappaquiddick," about the 1969 scandal involving Sen. Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne, faced a struggle to release the movie.
"Unfortunately, there are some very powerful people who tried to put pressure on me not to release this movie," Allen told Variety.
However, Allen — the producer and Entertainment Studios CEO — told Variety he is not releasing the movie for political reasons.
"They went out of their way to try and influence me in a negative way. I made it very clear that I'm not about the right, I'm not about the left, I'm about the truth," Allen said.
In 1969, a car driven by Sen. Ted Kennedy lost control while driving over a bridge and crashed into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island in Martha's Vineyard. Kennedy escaped the wreck, but passenger Kopechne, a campaign worker, died.
At the movie's premiere, Allen said that Kopechne was "one of the original #MeToo victims."
The movie is based on what factually happened and on Sen. Kennedy's version of the events, the film's director, John Curran, told Variety.
Curran told CNN that after almost 50 years, it was time for the story to get a new look, as an "honest portrait of the last and youngest brother of our greatest political dynasty in his lowest moment, and also a cautionary tale of the excesses and abuse of power."
The movie will be released in theaters on April 6.
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