KJ Apa channels Hollywood legend James Stewart in “Jimmy,” an inspiring new biopic that skips the scandal and zeroes in on the period of Stewart’s life he was proudest of: his service as a combat pilot in World War II.
KJ Apa as James Stewart (Credits: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images via Deadline)
What “Jimmy” Gets Right About James Stewart
When Stewart’s daughter Kelly Stewart Harcourt — also an executive producer on the film — first heard the pitch, her reaction was that a movie about her father might be “pretty boring,” since he lived no life of scandals, drugs or drinking. Then she learned the film wouldn’t be a standard birth-to-death biopic. Instead, it focuses on his U.S. military service, flying 20 dangerous missions over Europe in the U.S. Army Air Corps, rising to Colonel by war’s end — and ultimately Brigadier General.
Stewart, she says, never spoke about the war to her or her siblings, making the film a portrait of a chapter the man himself kept private.
KJ Apa’s Transformation
Apa, best known as Archie on Riverdale, steps into the shoes of one of cinema’s most beloved figures — a casting choice that Deadline’s review says he carries expertly. The film trades the usual biopic playbook for a focused, character-driven story about duty, humility and the part of a star’s life that mattered most to him.
For fans of classic Hollywood and war dramas alike, “Jimmy” offers something rare: a biopic about the good man, not the scandal — and Apa’s performance gives the legend a worthy screen return.
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Source: Deadline — read the full story there.
