Canada AM Transcript 5-6-05

Bernardo movie to be released as Homolka leaves prison
1,022 words
6 May 2005
Canada AM
English
© Copyright 2005 CTV Television Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Host(s): Beverly Thomson
Guest(s): Michael Sellers, Producer, "Deadly"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THOMSON: A scene [video excerpt] from the movie "Deadly", a movie that
chronicles the ill-fated union between convicted killers Paul Bernardo and
Karla Homolka. Joining us now from Los Angeles is the film's producer,
Michael Sellers.
Mr. Sellers, good morning.
SELLERS: Good morning.
THOMSON: Let me jump right in and ask you, why did you choose this
particular story? Of all stories that are out there, both good and terrible,
why choose this one?
SELLERS: Well, I think this is story which is just incredibly compelling. I
think the amount and number of books that have written about it, the amount
of interest in it, I think testifies to that. It's a very sensitive and
difficult story to tell. And it is one which I thought long and hard about
before getting involved in. But at the end the day I felt it was a story
that had validity to try and understand the psychology of what was going on
in this situation.
THOMSON: Did you think about it at the outset, how angry people might be
about this, how much pain it would inflict upon the families, the French
family and the Mahaffy family, and those involved?
SELLERS: You know, I thought about it. That's something that -- true-crime
movies, as you know, are made every year, somewhere they are making them and
everywhere this kind of decision comes up. I think this is in a much more
acute fashion here in Canada. Yes, I thought about it. And I have from the
beginning had in mind ways to try and behave responsibly with regard to that
issue.
THOMSON: Is the movie sympathetic, in your opinion, to Karla Homolka?
SELLERS: No. The movie gives Karla the format that I just explained to you.
Imagine this format for a second, if you can. Karla walks in, she's eight
years into her prison term, you are the audience, you meet her for the first
time. And she has a mission, and her mission is to convince the psychiatrist
that she deserves parole. The psychiatrist's mission is to get beneath the
surface to get to the truth, to get to the psychological and moral truth of
what's there. So, there's a dialectic in the film. You have to form your own
judgment about Karla and Karla has to admit what she did, and dig deeper
into the whys of it. So, it's not sympathetic, in the way that you're
describing it, of Karla. But Karla does have an opportunity to try to
present her side of it.
THOMSON: Mr. Sellers, is it a movie that you're hoping to make money from?
Wouldn't that be fair to say, because you are movie producer?
SELLERS: Well, yes, indeed. However, I think I know where you're going with
that, you're saying -- making money around the world is one thing, making
money in areas where it is not so sensitive is one thing. As far as making
money from Ontario and particularly from the areas that were most affected
by this, I think that making money from there is a very, very delicate
situation. And there has to be a very significant and meaningful
contribution to victims' funds and things like that -- if the film is shown
there at all. I'm not even sure it's going to be shown there. But that's a
different thing. I feel very conflicted about that particular situation,
what I would call the "ground zero" of where this happened and where people
are so sensitive about it. Trying to make money there is a very, very
complicated thing. And I think it has to be handled very sensitively.
THOMSON: And, Mr. Sellers, I gather that you have invited Tim Danson to a
screening of this. Tim Danson, being the lawyer for the Mahaffy and French
families?
SELLERS: He requested an opportunity to prescreen the movie on behalf of the
families. And he and I are working together to make that happen. And it's
now confirmed that we are going to do it, and we're just working out the
details.
THOMSON: Mr. Sellers, how did you research this? Did you think about getting
in contact with Paul Bernardo or Karla Homolka?
SELLERS: Well, I would say we contemplated that for a very brief moment. No,
because there is such a body of public material out there, and of course
there are the books. We read the books for background. But then we went and
obtained every piece of the trial transcripts, and we made that our primary
source. And then we got other public-record documents about her psychiatric
interviews -- there's a lot of that out there as well. And we just read and
read and thought and thought, and dealt with it that way. We didn't feel it
was appropriate to try to contact directly Paul or Karla.
THOMSON: You are a father of three teenaged girls. How have they reacted to
this film?
SELLERS: I talked to them at length before I became involved. And I needed
to understand how they felt about it. And they went online and they
researched and they really tried to learn about it. And they ultimately came
to the conclusion that it was something -- because they felt they were
actually safer for having known about this, known my involvement in it,
because it made them much more aware of predators and also the fact that
predators can be very charming and very handsome and beautiful people. So,
they supported it and I think they feel that it is valid. At the same time,
you know, they are aware of these sensitivities. And, like myself, they feel
there is something of a conflict in terms of trying to make sure that we go
down the right path on this.
THOMSON: Well, conflict and controversial. Thank you for joining us, Michael
Sellers. Appreciate your time.
SELLERS: My pleasure.