October 16, 2017
Tina Fey is co-producing the film “67 shots,” which will depict the events leading up to the 1970 shooting at Kent State University.
The film will be directed by Jay Roach, who previously worked with Fey on “Sisters,” which Roach produced.
Roach’s other work as a director includes “Game Change,” the HBO drama depicting Sarah Palin’s rise to a vice presidential nomination (and, no, Fey did not play Palin), and “Trumbo,” among others. His more recent political work comes after directing franchises like “Austin Powers” and “Meet the Parents.”
Fey will also work alongside producers Jeff Richmond and Eric Gurian from their Little Stranger production company, as well as Michelle Graham from Everyman Pictures and Rawat and Monica Levinson from ShivHans Pictures.
Richmond, Fey’s husband, attended Kent State and developed the idea with Gurian before launching it with Roach.
The film will be a historical drama detailing the events that led to the shooting of Kent State students during a Vietnam War protest in May 1970. Sixty-seven shots were fired by the Ohio National Guard, four students were killed and nine were injured.
“There was a prevailing movement in the country – they measured it with polls – where the vast majority of Americans blamed the students for what happened,” Roach told Deadline. “We have footage of the people on the streets saying, ‘I wish they’d shot them all.’”
Roach also compared the 1970 events to today’s political protests, specifically the controversy surrounding athletes' choice not to stand for the national anthem.
“The tamer version of this now is the NFL protest, the hatred that comes out for any show of what some people consider lack of patriotism,” he said.
