'Chappaquiddick' revisits one of the Kennedy family's darkest hours

The new movie "Chappaquiddick" revisits an infamous incident involving one of America's most famous political families -- the Kennedys.

Jason Clarke stars as Sen. Ted Kennedy. Back in 1969, he was involved in an accident that killed Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker, after he drove the car they were both in off a bridge.

The movie shows how this scandal had the Kennedy family using its political influence during the investigation. Clarke said, in making this movie, he learned a lot about what happened that night on Chappaquiddick Island off Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

"You see the divers say 'I could have had her out in twenty-five minutes, but no one gave me the call,' and that's a really key thing," said Clarke. "Yes, she was alive for possibly longer than, you know, the fact, you know, when Ted decided not to knock on the first house, which is only 50 meters away, she was still probably alive. Which is horrific, and it's full of little things like that. It's an honest depiction of it. I don't think it's a hatchet job at all, I don't think we walked the line of truth or lies or hyping things up at all, I think we walked a pretty honest line with the facts that are out there, in print, known, and we've shown intimate dramatization of it."

And part of that means looking the part so you're believable in the role.

"The hair, Kennedy had great hair, and I got a wig on for that, which was lovely," said Clarke. "And the teeth, my teeth are very small, and crooked, and Ted's got those, you know, big front, nice smile. It was a Kennedy smile. I thought, I'm only probably gonna smile a couple times in the film, but when I do, I want it to look bang! And so we had them made, very, very thin, they took months to make to get right."

"Chappaquiddick" is rated PG-13 and is in theaters April 6.