The ‘grassy knoll’ site of JFK assassination recreated in Manitoba park for film shoot
Manitoba’s Birds Hill Provincial Park is being transformed into the infamous ‘grassy knoll’—a site that has sparked countless conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
The elaborate reconstruction is all part of the film production for November 1963 – a mob movie starring John Travolta that retells the story of Kennedy’s assassination.
READ MORE: ‘This is really the untold true story’: A behind-the-scenes look on the set of November 1963
The real-life ‘grassy knoll’ is an unassuming mound overlooking Elm Street in Dallas, Texas, across from Dealey Plaza. An ‘X’ on the road directly in front of the knoll marks the spot where Kennedy was fatally shot on Nov. 22, 1963.
In the decades since, conspiracy theorists have poured through photographs and released documents. Many claim photos show a second gunman perched atop the grassy knoll, though these theories have largely been debunked.
READ MORE: JFK files have been released. Here’s what you need to know
The grassy knoll isn’t the only JFK landmark to be recreated for the film. Crews built a replica of the entrance to the Texas School Book Depository—the building where Lee Harvey Oswald worked and where police discovered evidence of a sniper on the sixth floor.
Film crews have been spotted all over Winnipeg and the surrounding areas—including the Exchange District, the University of Manitoba campus, and the Norwood Flats neighbourhood.
November 1963 does not yet have a release date, but Nicholas Celozzi, the film’s screenwriter and producer, tells CTV News he hopes it will be out next year.
