The Kennedys in LA: red carpet premiere

Reporter meets Marilyn (Charlotte Sullivan)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA–Camelot returned to Los Angeles Monday night.
The Kennedys, the eight-hour, shot-in-Toronto miniseries, had its red carpet premiere at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences theatre. Most of the cast made the event, including Greg Kinnear, who plays president John F. Kennedy, Katie Holmes, who plays Jackie Kennedy and Barry Pepper, who plays Jack’s attorney general brother Bobby.
Holmes was at the event with her couch-jumping hubby, Tom Cruise. There are many Canadians in the cast, including Kristin Booth who plays a spunky Ethel Kennedy (wife of Bobby), Charlotte Sullivan, who plays the president’s “admirer” Marilyn Monroe and Serge Houde, menacing as mob boss Sam Giancana.

Kinnear arriving at the Reelz bash

Enrico Colantoni plays FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover and plays him to the hilt, stopping just short of putting on a dress.
Sullivan makes a svelte Monroe and was thrilled she got to keep the peach dress she wears in the miniseries. She plans to wear it for her wedding this summer.
Director Jon Cassar, the 24 showrunner who has employed more Canadians than Canadian Tire, was also at the premiere, as was executive producer Joel Surnow. Surnow’s conservative leanings had Kennedy watchers on edge that the miniseries was going to be a tabloid romp through Jack’s indiscretions. There are hints of that on screen in the two episodes shown on the big screen Monday night, but Kennedy fans should relax. The performances of Kinnear as the president and especially Pepper as Bobby are towering. Kinnear’s Jack grows quickly into the role and you see flashes of the wit and charisma that so captivated North Americans n the early ’60s. Pepper steers this ship, and you can’t take your eyes off him.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ arm. No Canadian comment

The miniseries also stars Tom Wilkinson as family patriarch Joe Kennedy. He seizes the first two episodes I screened prior to coming down to Los Angeles, where episode three (centring on the infamous Bay of Pigs fiasco) and episode five (the Cuban Missile Crisis) were showcased.
The series premieres April 10 in Canada on History Television and will air in four two-hour timeslots. The U.S. History channel dropped it like a hot potato, claiming it wasn’t historical enough; odd that it seems to jive with History channels in Canada and the U.K.
Kinnear says he loved shooting in Toronto and raved about the parks. We were told that Holmes enjoyed walking our parks, too, but she walked rght past the Canadian press on the red carpet Monday night and did not share her enthusiasm with us directly.