Updated Aug. 19, 2026, 4:33 p.m. ET
- Filmmaker Rory Kennedy continues her investigation into airplane producer Boeing together with her new documentary, “Freefall,” streaming now on Netflix.
- Kennedy finds a “continued lack of humanity” among the many most surprising issues she unearthed in her newest documentary, a sequel to 2022’s “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing.”
- In “Freefall,” Kennedy investigates the demise of whistleblower John Barnett in actual time. Kennedy says she felt, “like Boeing was probably responsible, one way or another, for his death.”
With a nervous chuckle, Rory Kennedy admits she’s “terrified of flying.”
“I have a long history of grabbing the person next to me when it gets bumpy or turbulent,” she tells USA TODAY. “I have a lot of anxiety with flying, and now I have a lot more.”
This certainly doesn’t come as a surprise to those who know the Kennedy family’s history and how several members have tragically died in plane crashes. The parents of her mother, Ethel Kennedy − George and Ann Skakel – died in 1955 after their plane crashed close to Union City, Oklahoma. Ethel’s brother, George Skakel Jr., died in an aviation accident in 1966. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the eldest brother of Rory Kennedy’s father, Robert F. Kennedy, perished in 1944 when the naval aviator’s plane exploded. A plane carrying his sister, Kathleen Kennedy, crashed in 1948. And John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died in 1999 while en route to Rory Kennedy’s wedding.
Yet that’s not why Kennedy, 57, devoted years of her life to investigating Boeing’s underbelly, portrayed in a pair of documentaries as a money-hungry entity willing to cut costs and corners, even when lives are at stake.
“Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing” (now streaming on Netflix) follows Kennedy’s 2022 movie, “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” (additionally on the platform), which examined the 737 MAX 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019 that resulted in 346 deaths. Boeing has admitted fault in these tragedies, attributing the reason for the crashes to a defective Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).
“Freefall” claims there was a pattern of the company ignoring employees’ concerns and retaliating against whistleblowers. Kennedy also heard reports of corroded parts being on the production line. But what shocked her most, she says, was a “continued lack of humanity.”
“It’s not just for the whistleblowers but also the families who lost family members in the 737 MAX crashes,” Kennedy says. In hearing from loves ones, “You actually see how these selections and insurance policies trickle down to influence folks’s lives in such profound methods and create such a way of loss and simply abject disappointment. That stays with me, and I believe that actually drives me greater than something to make the movie.”
In an announcement to USA TODAY, a spokesperson for Boeing addressed the claims made in Kennedy’s newest documentary.
“The allegations in this film have been widely reported over the past several years. Some remain unfounded claims to this day while others are issues that Boeing thoroughly addressed or continues to improve upon under the rigorous oversight of our regulators,” the spokesperson says. “Today, we are grateful that customers, industry experts, policymakers, and our employees are seeing improvements in how we work together and deliver quality products. Our team is working every day to meet our commitments and earn the trust of those who depend on us.”
Below, Kennedy reveals her motivation to proceed her Boeing probe, what it was like investigating the demise of whistleblower John Barnett and the way her upbringing influenced her need to make documentaries.
At what level did you suppose that there wanted to be a second movie? What did you need to focus on?
Rory Kennedy: In the aftermath of [the two 737 Max 8 crashes], Boeing did take accountability for the MCAS in these planes, which was actually the rationale for these planes crashing. They additionally had indicated to the general public and to authorities that they’d modified their methods, they’d realized their classes, that they have been now not going to prioritize income over folks and security. And they appeared to make some important modifications that have been reassuring, whereas they have been fixing the 737 Max. But fairly quickly after that aircraft went up into the air [after being ungrounded by the FAA], and the federal government scrutiny stopped and the laws pulled again on them, they reverted again to their outdated methods, it appeared…
I’d say the compelling factor that actually made me really feel like “I got to get back in there” was John Barnett, who I had referred to as a whistleblower from “Downfall,” [was being deposed] about what he had seen at Boeing. And throughout that interval, he died underneath very suspicious circumstances.
What was it like investigating the demise of John Barnett as somebody who had identified him?
It was regarding. I do really feel just like the toll that the expertise of being a whistleblower had on John emotionally was actually regarding, and he would speak about it. He was in remedy. He was working by a whole lot of points. He was having nervousness. He was underneath an infinite quantity of stress, and this had been going on for years and years and years and years.
Boeing made it as tough as they may for him to end his [deposition], to make his case [for a retaliation lawsuit]. And as I realized the circumstances and was ready to watch footage from that [deposition], and studying that he had requested Boeing throughout the [deposition]… ” Can I just take a break from this for a beat?” And they mentioned, “No. You have to keep going. Keep going. Keep going.” And then he died. I simply felt like there was such an absence of humanity on a really private stage, which I believe folks will see once they watch the movie.
What position do you suppose the federal government ought to have performed in holding Boeing accountable? What rulings would you could have preferred to have seen or see?
I believe that there ought to’ve been legal expenses in opposition to them. In truth, Boeing had agreed to plead guilty, after which extra not too long ago, underneath the present administration, they [the Trump administration] withdrew the case and the need for Boeing to plead responsible for legal expenses.
Different administrations dealt with it in another way, so that could be a actuality. But in fact, I do not suppose it is a partisan concern… I do really feel like having legal expenses in opposition to the CEOs who knew what they have been doing once they let these planes go up within the air and the place they allowed for 346 folks to die, and if they’d to go to jail and jail in consequence, that that will ship a really clear message, not solely to Boeing CEOs, however to CEOs from different firms, that they are often held criminally accountable and that it could compel them fairly instantly to make smarter decisions about security and the general public curiosity.
Do you are feeling that your individual life experiences have made you a extra steadfast filmmaker or a greater interviewer?
Probably. I believe that I’ve personally skilled a lot of loss and disappointment in my life, and I do suppose it creates a way of connection and understanding to individuals who have gone by fairly traumatic struggling.
After listening to your cousin, Maria Shriver, communicate and getting an opportunity to interview her, it appears there was an expectation of the Kennedy household that you’d exit and do good on this planet. Do you are feeling like that was modeled for you in your childhood? Do you suppose that evokes your need to make documentary movies?
I do not really feel that I used to be ever explicitly advised by anyone in my household, “You have to give back. You need to contribute to the world,” et cetera. But when it comes to the modeling that you just talked about, I do suppose that that had an enormous affect on me of people that I used to be surrounded by, each members of the family − and Maria’s mom was a big affect on me, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who in fact began the Special Olympics − and my mom and different folks, in addition to my siblings and cousins, lots of whom have led lives which were enormously contributory. But additionally the individuals who have been introduced into our lives, the Desmond Tutus, Nelson Mandelas, senators and Congress folks, in addition to simply fantastic individuals who would climb mountains like Jim Whittaker or Muhammad Ali and have been so terribly gifted at what they did.
This interview has been edited and condensed for readability and size.