Jason Clarke steps into the shoes of Senator Ted Kennedy in the new film "Chappaquiddick."
The drama looks back on the 1969 events following the night Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Massachusetts’ Chappaquiddick Island, killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.
In a recent interview on "Popcorn with Peter Travers," Clarke said the film hones in on what happened that night and the investigation that followed.
"We see him in a very short period of his life, I don’t think this is the summation of his whole life, before and after," said Clarke. "But it’s a key moment in who he was and I guess what he became."
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Many questions still linger about why Kennedy didn’t do more to save Kopechne and about the scandal that followed, Travers noted. It would be nine hours before Kennedy would report the accident. He would ultimately receive a two-year suspended sentence and the loss of his driver's license for one year, which many looked at as a slap on the wrist.
"I think it’s great that these questions come up. We’re looking at judgement. And each time he makes key choices along this whole journey," Clarke, 48, told Travers.
"As the actor, I was trying to find my way into Ted," he continued. "How does he come up with this? How do I justify this missing nine hours?"
Clarke said he took away an important lesson from the movie.
"I personally think that call a spade a spade," he said. "Own up to what you’ve done wrong. Let it be what it is, rather than pretend it’s something else."
”Chappaquiddick” is in theaters everywhere.
Be sure to watch the full interview with Peter Travers and Jason Clarke in the video above.