National Geographic’s Killing Lincoln was a huge ratings success for the network, but even before the historical TV movie aired, Nat Geo had already greenlighted Killing Kennedy, a TV movie based on another presidential assassination. With production for the new movie set to begin in June, on Tuesday the network announced some of the big castings for Killing Kennedy.
First and foremost, Parks and Recreation’s Rob Lowe has signed on to play John F. Kennedy in the project, which is based on the bestselling book of the same name written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The film will take a look at Kennedy’s life leading up to the assassination, as well as the life of Lee Harvey Oswald leading to that fateful day in Dallas. According to Deadline, Once Upon a Time’s Ginnifer Goodwin and Gossip Girl's Michelle Trachtenberg have also joined the movie, playing Jackie Kennedy and Oswald’s Russian wife Marina, respectively. We’ll let you know when the actor playing Oswald gets cast.
The movie is being timed, like several other TV projects, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. No official premiere date has been set, but the film is expected to hit the channel later this year. Additionally, National Geographic has already purchased the rights to O’Reilly and Dugard’s third book, Killing Jesus, although it will probably be quite a while before we hear more about this one, as the book won’t even be officially published until September.
