The Lawyer Dick Cheney Shot in the Face Says He’s Definitely Going to See ‘Vice’

Harry Whittington told the Daily Mail that he doesn't expect the scene showing his shooting to be accurate.

With Christian Bale and Amy Adams front and center, plus six Golden Globe nominations, “Vice” is expected to bring in quite the crowd when it opens in theaters Christmas Day, and one person who will definitely be buying a movie ticket is Harry Whittington. The 91-year-old former lawyer was 78 when he got shot in the face by Vice President Dick Cheney during a 2006 quail hunt in Riviera, Texas.

“I’m planning to watch it and some of my daughters have talked about going to see it after watching the trailer,” Whittington told the Daily Mail. “I told them I would go with them. We don’t know much about the film and have not been contacted by the producers. The trailer is not exactly what happened and there was no automobile involved.”

The official “Vice” trailer includes a brief scene of Bale’s Cheney sitting in a car and accidentally firing his weapon. The actual incident, dubbed “Quailgate” by the media, occurred on February 11, 2006. Cheney allegedly fired at what he thought was a bird in the sky but ended up shooting 150 birdshot pellets at Whittington.

“We were behind some bird dogs and were walking along, the Vice President was off to my left side,” Whittington recalled of the accident. “I saw him swing his gun toward a bird which flew up. I remember that motion and then smelling the gunpowder. I woke up and I was in an ambulance on the way to hospital.”

Whittington had to have surgery to remove the pellets from his face and body. The lawyer also suffered a heart attack because of the lead that found its way into his blood vessels.

“I still have a few pellets in my body but they are not causing any problems,” Whittington added. “I have no hard feelings toward the Vice President. It was 12 years ago but it’s one of those stories that doesn’t go away. I had been hunting for 50 years before this happened and it was an accident, I can see how it can happen.”

“Vice,” directed by Adam McKay, opens in theaters December 25 via Annapurna Pictures.

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