Content warning: This article discusses suggestive topics and material that some readers may find offensive, including sexual assault.
Anna Kendrick is making her directorial debut with the Netflix original film “The Woman of the Hour,” and it's based on a very scary true crime story.
If you're not familiar with the story of Kendrick and his screenwriter Ian McDonald, “The Woman of the Hour” is based on Rodney Alcalá, a sex offender and serial killer who killed several women in California in the late 1970s. (Although Alcalá was only convicted of five murders, the charge Real His murders can reach 130.) If Alcalá's crimes were not disturbing enough, Also There were thousands of candid photographs available involving subjects of the time, one of which was reopened in 2016 after 1977 years.
Well, wait, what does this have to do with Kendry? Well, the Oscar-nominated actress will star in and direct it. “Woman of the Hour” retells the true story of Alcalá's appearance on the game show “The Dating Game” (actually, Alcalá is sometimes referred to as “The Dating Game Killer”).. It's really unbelievable (in a bad way) that Alcalá appeared as an eligible bachelor on this show knowing how terrible he is. Actively Her episode aired in 1978, part of her killing spree, so Kendrick found the whole story fascinating and understandably wanted to play Cheryl Bradshaw, interviewing the contestants on stage (including Alcala). So why is he directing the film?
Anna Kendrick pulls double duty for the first time in Woman of the Hour
Ahead of the film's streaming release, Anna Kendrick sat down with an exclusive Netflix outlet for an interview. Tumdu revealed that she originally wanted to only play Cheryl Bradshaw, but after sitting down with the script she realized she wanted to direct. (Kendrick joins “The Pope's Exorcist”'s Daniel Sovatto as Rodney Alcala and “Veep” star Tony Hale as game show host Ed Burke, a reimagining of real-life host Jim Long.)
“Once I started directing the movie, I realized I loved the character, but I loved the movie as a whole more than the character,” Kendrick Tutum said. “I think I'm particularly interested in the script and the parts of it. [my character is] “No, I can’t be normal.”
Kendrick told the outlet that Cheryl's story throughout “The Woman of the Hour” was more complex and told a story that was very familiar to women around the world. “I really love the complicated journey of a woman who is so happy to shrink and then be able to rebel and take back some power,” Kendrick said. I like that it's not as simple as, “Oh, she's coming into her own, everything's working out great.” Because that's the deal we make every day: How faithful is my life and how much risk does that put me in?
In The Woman of the Moment, Anna Kendrick wants to prioritize Rodney Alcalá's victims, not the murderer.
According to Anna Kendrick and Ian MacDonald, a key part of “The Woman of the Hour” is that the story does not glamorize Rodney Alcalá, but rather gives prominence to the women he took advantage of, ensuring that their stories outnumber them. . The man who shortened their lives. (Creators like Ryan Murphy have been criticized for courting people like Jeffrey Dahmer, which is certainly refreshing.) During his research into Alcalá's “Dating Game” episode, which Kendrick says was so difficult to find, it led him to rely on websites like Newspapers.com: Kendrick remembers finding an article that pointed someone's direction. When Kendrick realized that one of Alcalá's victims knew exactly where the woman lived, he realized that he could have heard the sound of the Pacific Ocean when the woman died. As a result, Kendrick and MacDonald developed the concept into a film, hoping to give a voice to the voiceless.
As for Macdonald, who wrote the script before Kendrick signed on, he found Alcalá particularly compelling as a subject because, unlike other famous serial killers, he must have raised suspicions. “In real criminal circles, you sometimes hear people say, 'Oh yeah, he's like Ted Bundy,'” McDonald Tutum said. “But the fact of the matter is that he is the complete opposite. Ted Bundy is a chameleon. He's very good at pretending he's not. And Rodney Alcalá really seems to have overcome his bad tendencies. It’s not that I’m being tactful, other people are actively looking the other way.”
“There are a lot of heroes in this story, but the heroes were outnumbered and basically outnumbered by incompetence and indifference and a culture that didn't prioritize victims,” Kendrick said of the people around Alcalá. “The Woman of the Hour” premieres on Netflix on October 18.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, help is available. Visit National Rape, Abuse and Sexuality Network website Or contact RAINN's national helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
