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[reel buzzing and whirring]
[foreboding music]
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.BZ
[heart beating]
[music intensifies to threatening]
[muffled chopper blades chuffing]
[dramatic sting]
[music fades]
[retro electronic buzz]
[reel buzzing and whirring]
[monochrome era jingle playing]
[somber music]
[Male Narrator] Between 2018 and 2022,
three actresses were murdered
during production of the film Dissident
by an individual known as The Hollywood Killer.
THK attempted a fourth murder on actress Audrey Evans,
who escaped and went on to finish the film.
The only evidence that exists
is the footage of the murders that THK filmed
and outtakes from the film Dissident.
The case remains unsolved.
[music continues]
[unsettling music]
Killing isn't as scary as it sounds.
When you do it enough, you actually start to enjoy it.
Cut, don't move, stay there. Dustin,
I got a question for you.
- Are you a killer? - Yes.
Yeah? Let me see your eyes. I can't see them.
Look at me. Are you a killer?
- Yes. - Go back over there.
- Are you a fucking killer? - Yes.
That's crazy 'cause I don't fucking believe you.
- Are you a killer? - Yes.
- Are you a killer? - [aggressively] Yes.
- You're a killer? - Yes!
- You're gonna kill for me? - [tensed] Yes.
- You're gonna kill for me? - Yes.
Okay. Wait.
- Roll camera. - [Man] [indistinct].
[Director] You a killer, Dustin?
[brooding] Yes.
[Director] Action.
Killing isn't as scary as it sounds.
When you do it enough, you actually start to enjoy it.
[classical strings music]
[music obscures into eerie and triumphant]
[abstract piano music]
[Thomas] My name is Thomas Scott.
I'm a former FBI agent.
And when I was at the Bureau,
I had the highest success rate of any profiler in history.
I caught every single serial killer
I ever chased, except for one.
This one, The Hollywood Killer.
Also known as THK, he became famous
because of the cinematic nature of his crimes.
He was the first serial killer ever to film the murders
and upload them to the Internet.
But why is he so hard to catch?
Is it the lack of evidence? No.
I've solved plenty of cases with very little evidence.
The real challenge lies in the unconventional
and peculiar nature of the suspects.
And let me just say,
this is the strangest group of suspects I've ever seen.
Christopher Pace,
the writer and director of Dissident
and a six-time Oscar winner.
Lawrence Hughes,
one of the most respected actors in the world.
Tedd Mankiewicz,
the most powerful manager in Hollywood.
Dustin Scott, a former teen heartthrob.
And Melvin Asher,
the biggest box office star ever.
And one of them could be responsible for the murders
of three of the most famous actresses in history.
Ava Bergman, Barbera Ball, and Greata Daniels.
It's important to understand what connects everyone.
And the thing that links the suspects,
the victims, and the killer all together
is the film Dissident,
a film which has made history for a variety of reasons.
The first being that the original director,
Christopher Demy, did something
that he had never done before,
that no one had ever done before.
He was going to let the cameras roll
when no one knew they were rolling.
The only people that knew was the guy who loads the film
and Ivan who's shooting the film.
The writer didn't know. The actors didn't know.
No one else knew.
All of the outtakes have become evidence
in the largest murder case in history.
So Demy, right at the beginning of the project,
instructed me very clearly
that the camera was never to be cut.
And, at first, it sounded very strange.
I've never done that before.
I've shot everything in my life.
But not cutting a camera just makes no sense.
Now, he was right because what he was after
was the magic that happens in between the shots,
in between the takes.
So this film shot the most feet of film
ever in history.
The logistic is complicated,
but the camera was never to cut.
So everything was rolling at all times.
[Thomas] So how do you feel about the fact
that the cameras were rolling the whole time?
Uh, you know, I think it's ultimately, uh, irrelevant,
how do I feel.
Uh, clearly, I'm not a performer.
It's not what I get enjoyment or pleasure out of.
So I think that there's this misconception
about the way that I conduct myself
is, in and of itself, a performance
that I was aware that the cameras were rolling.
Uh, nothing could be further from the truth.
Uh, unfortunately, what you are getting
is, um, unadulterated, uh, reality.
You are getting me as I am in those moments.
Or I will make the blood
come out of your fucking mouth for real.
You got it.
[Christopher] You ever bled like this?
You.. Yeah.
- Yeah? You bled like this? - You already got it.
Think about the last time you bled like this, okay?
Think about it. Just think about it, okay?
Again. Come on!
[panicked breathing]
- Yeah? Uh-huh. No, no! - Okay, can I go?
[Christopher] You got to stop running away from it, okay?
Don't be afraid of it! Stay with it!
Again!
[panicked breathing]
- [Christopher] Uh-huh. - Okay--
No, no. It looks like you're going to have a fucking orgasm.
Thank you, guys!
[Christopher] Get back down in the blood!
Get the fuck back in the blood!
- [Greata] Bye! - Greata, I swear to God!
Come back here!
If any of us knew the cameras were rolling at all times,
none of us would have acted the way we did.
I'm excited that all this footage exists,
because it shows you the hell
that we go through just to entertain people.
- Marty? Marty! - [Marty] Yeah.
Listen to me.
I can feel your effort
to drive straight through the rubber and aluminum.
Do not drive like an actor, Marty!
[Actress] Hold the window.
- Do not drive like an actor! - [Actress] Go away!
- Drive like a fucking man! - [Actress] Go away!
Drive like a man!
In the history of movie making,
I've never seen anything like this happen.
I mean, I've made 218 movies.
I've filmed in 40 countries in the world.
I've had six fucking wives, and this is unprecedented.
You can't talk about Hollywood lore
without talking about three films.
Apocalypse Now, The Wizard of Oz, and Dissident.
But to understand why Dissident is on that list,
we have to meet the original architect,
Christopher Demy.
[Thomas] Can you tell me a little bit
about who you are and what you do?
I'm an auteur.
You know what that means?
That means someone who has a clear vision
of the kind of films they want to make.
And the films I make are big,
and people seem to like them.
[Thomas] Demy is one of the top-grossing directors
of all time,
but Dissident was written by one
of the hottest screenwriters in the world,
Christopher Pace.
So I was excited to ask Pace what he thought about Demy.
He's a lost little boy.
Um, still playing with toys,
believing that big explosions
and, uh, rotating cameras
and putting things in reverse make a film.
He is an artist in search of art.
Um, I don't know what to say about that.
I will let the hearsay, the pundits, the Internet,
your mama, say whatever they want to say.
I know who I am.
It's easy to say they're not fans of each other.
Maybe the biggest issue between them was the fact
that Demy kept the cameras rolling
without Pace's knowledge.
Pace claimed that Demy used the controversy
around the outtakes and their feud
to turn the film into a social commentary.
So I asked him, "What does it mean?"
Everyone wants to know, "What does it mean?
What does it mean?"
It's whatever the fuck you want it to mean.
It's like, what the fuck?
I'm not supposed to do all the work for you.
I'm supposed to lay out the art.
I know what the fuck I know what it means,
but people, "But wait, was it this?"
They stop me on the street. I can't go to Starbucks.
"Hi, hey, Chris, is it this?"
I'm like, "I don't know."
It could mean female independence.
It could mean liberation.
It could mean, uh, deconstructive masculinity.
You name it.
Whatever it is, that's what I'm happy with.
I create the art. You create the interpretation.
All I know is that what I did on this film
will be deconstructed,
and reinterpreted, and pondered for many, many years
in film schools across this land.
I was there the day Demy walked away from the film.
It was the day that I would never forget
and it was the day that changed the film forever.
The phone booth day.
Listen to me, Demy! How about that?
How about if I just talked to you
and told you that I am not a writer,
nor am I a hero? I am the fucking devil!
Yeah, two Oscars.
I melted 'em down into a pen
and I wrote this fucking script with it!
I don't give a fuck about your Oscars!
And if you could honestly tell me that this scene,
the way it's going, the way he's doing it,
isn't fucking dog shit, then I will walk away
and let you piss all over my dream.
I won't shoot until you get down on your knees and pray to me.
You want to get a new phone booth in here, maybe?
So after we wrap tonight,
I'm going to come to your fucking hotel room,
room 246,
and I will beat you until you fucking love me!
[Demy] You're not a fucking...
You see that? That was...
[Demy] You're fucking trash.
You fucking ingest it over and over again
while I'm throwing the fuck up on you.
I'm fucking vomiting it all back to you!
You're fucked up! That's not fucking art!
Fuck you! Fuck you!
Oh, in the beginning, Demy and Pace were a dream team.
They were great. They got along really well.
But, you know, even Pippen talks shit on Jordan now.
I hate this man.
- Mm-hmm. - I would love to beat him.
The only reason I can't is because of...
Well, some obscure DJ law, you're not supposed
to fucking kick the shit out of [indistinct]
Um, this is an awful environment,
and I apologize for that.
[Martin] The moment Pace walked into that phone booth
was the moment Demy walked off set.
Forever.
When Demy quit, Hollywood was riddled
with speculation as to why this massive director
would walk from such a big movie.
Those people have no idea where I come from
and the kind of worlds that I create
and the kind of sets that I create.
The real reason why I quit is because I just couldn't take
working with Pace.
So I left the film,
and the press labeled me as a monster.
You know, I'm not even gonna name the monsters,
but there are many monsters in this industry
and I'm definitely not one of them.
At this point, we were three weeks behind schedule
after two weeks of shooting.
You do that math.
I knew from the first production meeting
that Pace and Demy would never be able to work together.
The only one who understands Dissident is Pace.
[Christopher] You'll never be able to understand Dissident
without understanding a theatrical technique
called theater of cruelty.
That is what Dissident is.
Dissident is theater of cruelty.
The principle conceit of theater of cruelty
was to create theatrical pieces
that were so shocking,
that were so upsetting, grotesque, uh, and powerful
that the audience did not have the opportunity to think.
They had nothing to do but live, but to exist,
but to experience what they were seeing.
I told Demy, just like I told Mocker,
just like I told Mankiewicz,
that nobody could shoot this movie but me.
And yet Demy, finding himself
caught between the Scylla and Charybdis,
the crashing rocks of my creation
and the sea monster of trying to interpret it,
he realizes that he's drowning and he starts a fight with me.
He wanted a reason to walk off that set.
And I gave it to him.
So when Demy quit before he walked out of the set,
he pulled me aside and he made me promise
that I would keep rolling the camera in between takes.
So I did.
We started working together.
You said one thing, you said, "I make it look good," okay?
But this does not look good.
You don't let me make it look good.
I don't let you? How could I stop you?
You choose the lenses.
Of course I'm gonna choose the lenses.
This is my fucking film. It is my job.
- It's my lens, though. - No, no, no.
I feel like you really struggle with object permanence, okay?
It's not your lens.
What Demy didn't know when he asked Ivan to do this
was that this footage would lead to Christopher Pace
being a murder suspect and would soon be part
of one of the largest murder investigations
in Hollywood history.
But let's start with Pace taking over
as the director of Dissident.
You're here, right?
Like this and then boom, like that.
- Did you see me? - Yeah.
But it's a motion! It comes up!
Ow!
I still remember the day that Pace took over.
It is a day that will live in infamy
as the worst day of my life.
Give me your hand. This one, right here.
- All right, ready? - Yeah.
- Put your finger out like that. - Yeah.
All right? Now I want you to poke me.
Poke me. Come on. Poke me.
- Yeah, there we go. Uh-huh. - Mm-hmm.
- It's getting difficult, right? - Yeah.
- Why don't you fucking poke me? - [grunts aggressively]
Right? Okay.
Now I want you to ask me to do the same thing.
I want you to poke me. Ah, fucker!
- Stop trying to win, Dustin. - God damn.
And fucking listen to me.
Pace made my life a living hell.
I remember getting a call from Dustin's manager
saying that he was trying to kill him with a helicopter.
[triumphant music]
Personally, I thought
the helicopter should have been closer,
but the film industry is full of pussies.
Pace is one of the smartest directors out there.
He knows everything about everything in film.
He did his homework.
He's a contemporary of Tarantino in that way.
He's younger, but he's as smart,
and he has a really, really deep perception.
He used the neorealist aspect
in order to reinvent cinema from himself.
And here's something that Pace said to me at one point,
which I think is interesting.
There's a quote from Chaplin, famous quote.
Life when viewed in close-up is a tragedy,
and in long shot, it is a, uh, a comedy.
Pace said to me, "Chaplin got it wrong.
"In close-up, it's a comedy.
In long shot, that's when it's a tragedy."
The thing that people don't realize
is they're just playing checkers.
Pace is playing four-dimensional chess.
[Christopher] Okay, Zeus, I need you
in conversation with the wind.
I want you to think about, uh,
it's like My Dinner with Andre.
Give me Wallace Shawn!
That's beautiful! Beautiful work.
Okay, Audrey, I want you to know
that the helicopter pilot
has a better understanding of human emotion than you do.
You're a titan of banality!
Hey, you know what, Ivan? Ivan, I don't...
Just film something. I don't even care anymore.
Just shoot it.
Every director has their tactic, their, their method.
And Pace says he's a Meisner guy,
and he's really method,
and he likes to exist in the, the situation.
But, really, his tactics are a lot like Mein Kampf,
you know, like, like Hitler.
Like, he's the son of Hitler, I'm pretty sure.
We get these constant comparisons
to the Fourth Reich, to the Nazis, to Hitler.
Um, when these comparisons are made,
it's about methodology, right?
Because the prevailing mythology
around the fascists is, yes, they were awful,
yes, they were brutes, yes, they were genocidal,
but the trains ran on time, but they got things done.
So I get this comparison, I assume,
because the idea is that I am brutal,
but I get things done.
Well, I get things done not because of cruelty,
not because I am willing to wipe out people
in order to accomplish my goals, no, no, no.
It is perpetual motion. It is Oppenheim.
I am become death.
Because once something has, uh, begun,
once, once the ball is rolling,
it has to reach its conclusion.
And that is, that is how I work.
Once I have begun, uh, I will not be stopped.
This is not about you. You know what is about you?
This moment, this scene, okay?
So I want you to focus on that.
I don't give a shit about anything else around it.
No, no, no. This.
You know why I put the gloves on?
- No. - So that I can hurt you
without leaving marks on my skin.
Pace didn't care what the scene was.
I mean, hell, he'd have walked in on the birth of Christ
and given Mary instructions
how she could do it better and with more meaning.
You know what, Dustin?
I've been watching the monitor and it seems to me
that you're starting to perspire.
Does that seem accurate to you?
I'm having an issue with the sweat.
I need you to stop that.
I mean, for us, a cut was never a cut.
We just kept the camera rolling all the time
because we got some great stuff,
because Pace was compelling people
to do things they might not have wanted to do.
Yeah, Pace had a way of taking anything and everything
that brought you joy
and just drowning it in darkness.
- Are you crying? - No, I'm not crying--
No, no, no. No, no. There's no crying.
There's no crying in filmmaking!
No! There's no crying in film!
There is crying on film! On film, never in film.
What I say to my actors
is between us.
It has no bearing on anything
but what you see in that frame.
There's a lot of tension between you guys.
[loud helicopter chuffing]
Normally that would be okay. In this section, not good.
Okay? So I need you to release the tension.
At the end of the next take,
I just want the two of you guys to just have sex, okay?
And we're gonna film it,
but be prepared to stop and start
because I will have adjustments specifically for you.
Hey, pay attention, okay?
Pace is one of the most mysterious people
I've ever investigated.
He's an orphan with no family,
no friends, and no discernible past.
In fact, the only person we could find to interview
who knew him before he was famous
was his college roommate.
My name is Randall Birch.
I'm a Tony Award-winning actor.
That means I perform on the stage.
And Christopher Pace was my college roommate.
I would describe living with Christopher Pace
as, as a FOG: Fear, Obligation, Guilt.
He was masterful at getting anyone
besides myself, I would say,
to do exactly what he wanted, no matter how depraved.
They were like cult members, and he was a cult leader.
When I saw the first video posted on social media of Ava,
I immediately called the LAPD, and I told them,
Christopher Pace is the one that did this murder.
It was filmed exactly like how Christopher would film
everything that went on in our house.
I think it's fascinating that we've had
famous serial killers throughout time,
and yet no one else filmed the act.
I think the idea that Christopher Pace did that
makes a lot of sense to me.
I can tell you this.
Pace is definitely a murderer.
I just don't know if he's the murderer.
I will stab you in the fucking throat, Tedd.
- I will do it. Okay? - Do it.
You'll never work again. Do it.
I don't need to work. I could work in prison.
I'd put on a prison play
that would win a fucking Oscar, all right?
And I would fuck all the inmates.
Is he out of his fucking mind?
No doubt about it.
But when you're a genius, people have to tolerate you.
And that's what Pace is.
He's a genius.
I am all things to all people.
I am Mother.
I am Father.
I am killer, I am saint, I am devil, I am savior.
I am Idi Amin and I am also Gandhi.
- You know what this is? - That's film.
Yeah, this is the film
from that really tight profile shot I got of you.
I just ripped it out of the fucking camera.
- You know why I did that? - No.
Because I can't fucking use it.
I can't use any of this shit, Dustin.
Because Pace didn't start as the director,
he didn't get to choose the cast.
But the one person he did get was Ava Bergman.
I ain't afraid of dying.
I already done it.
Ava was Pace's muse.
The whole movie, the whole concept of the movie was her.
I don't want to say that I wrote the role for her
because I don't write roles for actors.
I am, I am haunted by a character.
They live inside my, my brain.
Uh, they destroy my life.
And then to prevent suicide, I write them onto a paper.
And when I finished with this, with this woman,
uh, she was Ava.
Talk to me. What do you need?
Uh, I'm just not sure that I...
- What? - Okay. Um--
You're not sure that what?
That I really understand, uh, the character at this point.
You are the character. What is there to understand?
She was his Scarlet Empress.
She was his Marlene Dietrich to Josef von Sternberg.
If von Sternberg had lost Dietrich,
this would have been a big hole
in the history of cinema
uh, and some images that were amazing and shocking.
I think it was a real blow, um, to Pace
uh, when this happened.
And I think that it turned him
into a dissident toward his own movie,
which was Dissident.
Quit ripping the film out of the fucking camera!
What are you going to use it for, Tedd?
Quit ripping the fuckin' film!
What do you want me to do with it, Tedd?
At least look at the dailies, motherfucker!
I don't need to see the dailies! I do all the scenes, Tedd!
[Melvin] People think Pace's issues started with Barbera,
but the fact of the matter is
it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows with Ava, either.
Pace was in pursuit of perfection.
And from what I saw, Ava couldn't give it to him.
- I think we can drill down... - Okay.
...and start doing something interesting.
I need, I need, I need somebody, I need somebody to literally,
like, call my therapist
because, like, she knows that when I'm stressed out,
like, I need, like, a breathing exercise...
I think you need to act when you're stressed out.
I think you need to let it go.
No, I don't think that I should.
This is beautiful, but you gotta let it out.
From my research, Pace never had an issue with her acting.
He had an issue with her boyfriend,
a man who many people say
is the greatest actor of all time.
Our next suspect, Lawrence Hughes.
Welcome to the picture show!
[reel buzzing]
Lawrence is a unique suspect for three reasons.
Number one, he was not in the film, Dissident.
Two, I was not able to interview him
while at the FBI or for this documentary.
And, finally, the day before Ava's murder,
he disappeared and has not been seen since.
So to understand Lawrence,
let's start with his relationship with Pace.
The only way to describe Lawrence and Pace
is the same type of relationship
that Werner Herzog had with Klaus Kinski.
Herzog and Kinski were at each other's throats all the time.
They fought constantly. They pulled guns on each other.
They threatened to kill each other,
walk off movies, et cetera.
But they made five films together between 1972 and '87.
And they were good, good movies.
Lawrence and Pace made The Last Great Actor,
which some people consider
to be the greatest film ever made.
And often compared to Citizen Kane.
But the truth is, without Lawrence's star power,
there wouldn't have been a film.
And without that film, there would be no Pace.
Reality is that movie wouldn't have been made without him.
I was nobody.
And he took a massive risk by signing on to it.
And despite everything that's happened between us since,
I will always be grateful to him for that.
[Ivan] When Lawrence signed on to do The Last Great Actor,
I was shocked.
Um, he had not done a movie that small in a long time.
Lawrence is great in every movie he does.
But in this one, he delivered the performance of a lifetime.
When I was a kid, you know, I had this little bunk bed.
And my, uh, my brother would sleep underneath me.
So I climbed down one night. I couldn't sleep.
I was thinking about scary stuff, you know?
And, uh, there's this little sculpture of a rattlesnake.
It was my dad's favorite, favorite sculpture.
He got it in Arizona. I don't know.
I wanted to see it. I wanted to play with it.
So I grabbed it down and I looked at it.
And all of a sudden, it slipped from my hands
and just shattered into a million pieces.
All of a sudden, my...
My dad flings open the door
and he makes his face just like this.
And his hands got so big!
And then he started wailing on me and my brother!
Just beating the living piss out of us!
And my brother's in the corner of the bed just,
"Ah! Dad! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
No!"
And then my dad just shuts the door and he leaves!
And there's my brother, Luke,
and he's in the corner, and he's just like, "Why?
"Why would he do that?
"Why would he come in in the middle of the night
and just beat the shit out of us?"
And I knew why, because I was fucking around,
but he never knew.
I never told him.
[heavy breathing] Even to this day,
I've never told him.
Some people say that is the greatest scene
in film history.
Their words, not mine.
I have written the greatest scene in film history.
But it's not that one.
After The Last Great Actor,
everyone thought that Lawrence and Pace
were, you know, the next Scorsese and De Niro.
They made the film for $1 million
and it grossed $120 million.
Despite the success of the film, both men swore
that they would never work together again.
In fact, no one who has ever worked with Lawrence
will work with him a second time.
And it's not because people hate him.
It's because they are scared of him.
Lawrence's talent is his biggest enemy.
[sobbing]
I mean, about what anybody else knows about him,
he's probably the most talented actor that's ever existed.
This guy's dedication to his craft
and to the arts is second to none.
Lawrence is dedicated to performance.
Man, if there's one guy I've always been looking up to,
it's him.
I discovered Lawrence when he was nine years old.
Sometimes, I wish I really didn't
because he never had a chance to live a normal life.
And I feel guilty because of that.
Yeah, I think he had unrealistic expectations
put on him from an early age.
And although he fulfilled them with talent,
in his own body, he never felt like himself.
[Christopher] Why is Lawrence a great actor?
Uh, is it because he wins many awards?
Is it because he commits himself
to the roles to the detriment of himself
and to everyone around him? No, no, no, no.
The hardest thing for any actor to do
is to lose themselves,
to give up their own humanity in place of the characters.
Lawrence is great because he has no self to lose.
Lawrence is not a human being.
He is an empty shell.
Regardless of what you see on screen,
he is simply not there.
Which is why he's able to do anything once the camera rolls.
The second you call cut, the man is a disaster.
[Thomas] Do you have any idea who the killer might be?
Oh. If I had to pick a guy,
I think it's Lawrence.
Lawrence is one of these guys that,
I don't know what they call 'em,
but he'd get into a role and he'd stay in that role
through the whole movie.
I mean, whether he was in our car
or ordering a hamburger at McDonald's,
he'd stay in that role.
I mean, it's a little weird when he does that.
So, you know, when he goes home
after playing Neil Armstrong, I think he's thinking
he's home, walking on the moon.
And when he goes home as a crazed murderer,
he might be a crazed murderer.
[Harry] Working with Lawrence Hughes
on Justice Explosion was one of the most
rewarding experiences of my entire career.
I often tell people,
Lawrence is, is like a wild Mustang.
The good part of that is one
of the most beautiful sights you'll ever see.
The bad side, you try to ride him,
you'll get bucked from the saddle
and he'll trample you to death.
No one dedicates themselves more than Lawrence.
On Justice Explosion, he started to lose it.
We got calls from the cast and crew
saying he scared someone or made someone cry every day.
This is the reason I think people believe that Lawrence
is The Hollywood Killer.
I mean, he had been in over 30 films
where he'd had to do serious stunts.
I mean, he has a background in wrestling,
boxing, jujitsu, wire work.
It's really impressive, his, like, physical ability.
And...
he might have been the only one who was capable
of committing some of these crimes.
[Samuel] He's certainly got what it takes.
Close, intimate relationship.
Uh, disappeared after the murder.
Plays a lot of unhinged characters.
Known for not ever breaking character,
even when the film is long gone.
So he's living split personality day to day.
And in some ways, I really admire that.
[Thomas] Aside from his connection to Pace,
Lawrence was also connected to Dissident in another way,
through his relationship with Ava.
Ava and Lawrence were together on and off for three years.
But during production of Dissident,
Ava ended things with him for good.
And this sent Lawrence into a downward spiral.
Despite a restraining order, Lawrence kept showing up
anywhere she was,
and even showed up on the set of Dissident.
- Hi. - Hi, how you doing?
- Hey... Dustin. - Lawrence. Nice to meet you.
- How are you? - Damn good.
- Hi. Hi, how are you? - Hi.
No, no, let's try it again, okay?
Obviously, this did not go over well with Pace.
- [Christopher] Larry Hughes? - Hey.
My old fucking friend. How you doing?
- Hey-- - Fucking come onto my set!
You come onto my fucking set! Yeah?
[Thomas] After this, Lawrence was banned from the set,
which made him even more crazy.
Me and my dad both begged Lawrence to stop showing up,
but he just snapped.
He would do anything to try and see her.
Everyone needs to stay put. Larry's here.
He's going crazy outside,
and I got Ava locked in the trailer.
So we just need to sort of,
you know, shelter in place until, um, he's done
with whatever rant he's going on.
[Ivan] He kept calling me and trying to figure out
when Ava was on a break
and when she was stepping out for lunch or something.
I had to stop answering his calls
'cause he was just... freaking crazy.
And production had security guards on the perimeter.
He could not get anywhere near.
- It got crazy. - He's obsessed.
- No. - It's not healthy.
- It's absolutely bizarre. - That's crazy. You know what?
I'm going to keep my eyes open because that is insane,
and I want you to be comfortable at all times on this set.
- Thank you. Thank you. - I'm serious.
We've been knowing each other for too long.
Thank you. You're sweet.
But if you, um, do you find me, like, in a vat of oil
or, like, dismembered in the valley,
like, just, you know, probably him.
[Effy] Ava was over it.
She didn't want to talk to Lawrence anymore,
and he knew that.
I mean, I remember her telling me that,
uh, she was terrified of him.
But he kept calling.
Please calm down and listen to me!
- [Lawrence] I am listening! - Please.
[Lawrence] You need to make a choice.
It's either me or the film.
No, I'm always going to choose the film!
[Lawrence] You'll regret this! Mark my words!
- You'll regret this! - Babe--
Okay, okay, okay, okay. And now what do we do?
We go to the thing, and we block the number, right?
Give me the finger. There we go.
We hit that. There we go.
- And now where do we have block? - You have to scroll down.
We scroll down. Okay, okay.
And now we blocked him. Look at that.
[Ava] [crying]
And now we don't have to worry about it ever again.
These calls were scary.
I mean, he would call all of us
and just yell over and over to get Ava to pick up the phone.
And I'll tell you this.
Every call was worse than the last.
[Lawrence] I'm going to destroy this film,
and I'm going to destroy you! Okay?
And if I, if Ava isn't on a fucking plane in 30 minutes,
I'm going to come to that set
and drag her off by her fucking hair!
There are a few reasons why this clip is so important.
One being that Lawrence says, "I will destroy this film,"
which is a theory as to why he murdered the other girls.
The second is because this was the last call
ever made from Lawrence's phone
and the last time anyone heard from him.
Ava Bergman was murdered the following day.
[muffled screaming]
Help-- [choking] Help me!
[grunts]
Help! [screams] No! Please!
Please! Help me! No!
[choking] [gasping] [sustained exhale]
[eerie music]
[Demy] That's the problem these days.
We want to show everything and be grisly.
Detail.
The idea that this, this fucker
was holding a phone while he's attempting to...
Hm.
This is the world we live in.
It's really fucking dark.
[Thomas] The initial investigation by the LAPD
uncovered no physical evidence.
But none of that mattered, because everyone was convinced
it was Lawrence Hughes.
And even with an international search,
no one could find him.
His whereabouts remain unknown.
Despite this tragedy, shooting for Dissident
resumed 24 hours later with a new actress.
After losing a lead actress in such a horrible way,
most producers would cut their losses
and shut down the film.
Tedd is not most producers.
Now let's meet our third suspect,
Tedd Mankiewicz.
Like, Jesus Christ, can I get a fluffer here?
I'm spritzin' everywhere. It's actually not even cold.
I just, like, have to wait on my nuts.
Got fucking drool coming out of my mouth.
I got ball sweat. Feel like I've lost 10 pounds.
You're like, "Did you fuck Barb?"
And I go, "Oh, I fucked her to death,
but I didn't kill her."
[Thomas] First, let's start by understanding who Tedd is.
Not only is he one of the most
powerful people in Hollywood,
he represented all three of the women that were murdered.
The one who survived, two of the suspects,
was a suspect himself, and was having an affair
with Barbera Ball at the time of her death,
something that his wife was very upset about.
All roads lead back to Tedd, okay?
He got John into producing. He got Lawrence into acting.
Produced Pace's first film. Made Melvin a movie star.
Shared a lover with Dustin.
And he's thanked more than God at the Oscars.
I've got a soft spot for Tedd.
He's the best manager of all time.
But I understand that Tedd has made some enemies
in this business.
A lot of people hate him,
and Pace may be at the top of that list.
The devil never convinced the world that he did not exist.
No. The devil exists.
Tedd Mankiewicz exists.
The man is real.
And he's out there, and you all sit back and go,
"I don't know. I don't know.
Is evil real? Is darkness real?"
Look in the fucking mirror.
I know that a lot of people talk shit about Tedd
- Mm-hmm. - I totally get that.
But for me, it's like, I know that he would legit kill for me.
I've never killed anyone for a client.
But I would, and that's why they fucking signed with me.
During my investigation into Tedd,
I found that he would normally do one set visit on his movies.
On Dissident, he visited set four times a week.
Oh, oh, ladies and gentlemen,
can we get a round of applause here?
You understand what's happening?
Yeah, the Antichrist has returned.
All right? So that means we rejoice.
What do producers do?
They are supposed to put together the elements
that lead you to making the film.
Why would that entitle them
to be on the set once it's begun?
Their job is prologue.
They are the preamble.
They are the Greek chorus before the play begins.
Once the story starts, fuck off.
The moment Tedd Mankiewicz arrives on set,
whole energy shifts.
[Tedd] The luckiest day of your life is when you met me.
[Christopher] What are you talking about?
[Tedd] Everyone says you suck now,
and this movie will never be
as good as The Last Great Actor.
[Christopher] This movie will never be
as good as The Last Great Actor?
[Tedd] Yeah, totally.
[Christopher] You think maybe that's because you're standing
in the middle of my fucking shot?
[Martin] And if that wasn't bad enough,
the motherfucker would walk in and show you
how to do your scene.
This is how you cock a gun.
There's two things you need to be able to do
to be a movie star.
Kiss the girl...
and fire a gun.
- And you can't do either. - Just don't overthink it.
Acting is so fucking easy.
Most of the time, these people
just get so caught up in their own heads.
They're lazy.
Most of them don't have talent to begin with.
So I show up and I show them what to do.
I don't know why so many people get offended by this.
Do you think Reese Witherspoon blinks?
No.
Do you think Nicole Kidman blinks?
- No. - Then why would you blink?
I don't know.
Give me more Meryl Streep.
Okay. [heavy breathing]
Look at the camera and don't blink.
Tedd was like a steamroller.
He'd come in there and intimidate everybody.
[grunts] [groans painfully]
[Smitty] Yeah, every so often, I would go up to Ivan and say,
"You sure you want me to keep this camera rolling?"
I mean, some of the circumstances
were a little sketchy.
Tedd Mankiewicz was a fucking animal.
Did he know what he was doing? Sure.
Yes, okay. Was he very good at his job?
Also, yes. The man was a fucking animal.
To understand why Tedd is a suspect,
we have to talk about Barbera Ball,
the second murder victim,
and how she ended up in Dissident.
Barbera made a name for herself when she was cast in Breathe
alongside Lawrence Hughes.
[classic jazz music playing]
[speaking French]
I believe I went to school with that chap.
[speaking French]
Should I go approach him?
Oui.
Your French isn't that good anymore.
- I think you need some practice. - Good enough.
Whatever you say.
On y va.
Every actress in the world wanted that role.
But my dad made sure that Barbera got it.
After the success of Breathe, Tedd cast Barbera in Dissident
without ever talking to Pace about it.
Pace is quoted as saying
he hated Barbera Ball more than his own mother,
who abandoned him as a child.
[indistinct]
Barbera, am I looking at the monitor?
I can't, I can't tell.
There's four cameras on this fucking scene.
One of them can probably see it. I can't see it.
I'm not watching the camera. I'm watching you.
I'm watching your reaction. You know what I see?
- What? - I see fear.
Why do I see fear?
This gun has got no bullets in it.
It's not even a real gun.
I mean, let me show you something, Barbera.
You see this? All right? This is my fucking gun.
This shit's loaded. Am I afraid? No!
[Thomas] You wanted Barbera taken out of the film.
- Why? - Absolutely.
Uh, because she's not very good.
So, uh, once she was forced upon me,
I did what anyone does
when they are put in a compromising situation
that they did not ask to be in.
They try to get out. And that's what I did.
- How much does she want this? - A lot more than this film.
Okay, so then why is she here?
Wouldn't you rather spend it on the film rather than her?
Think about it.
Oh, you hadn't even thought about that.
We could get someone who was more talented
and less expensive.
There isn't somebody more talented.
You don't think there's anyone more talented?
- No, I don't. - Oh, my God.
The myopic... Jesus.
This is a normal occurrence.
I had to go to set every day
to make sure Barbera stayed in the film.
Your female lead is out of frame.
Yes, I know, I know.
This is how we're going to do the movie now, okay?
[Effy] My dad's going to see the dailies.
What do you think he's gonna say?
I think he's going to whine and bitch like a child.
You're whining and bitching like a child
because you can't have a two-person scene.
Barbera's out of the movie, Effy.
That's not how it works.
[Melvin] Pace needed his North Star for that character.
And Barbera wasn't it.
So he was determined to make her life a living hell.
You're killing me. You're literally killing me.
- Yes. I'm going to kill you. - Oh, yeah.
I feel like you're going to kill me.
I'm working up to it.
Every single fucking day I come to set,
I don't know what's going to happen.
[Dustin] Barbera was living in a constant state of fear.
But not from being murdered.
She was more afraid of being fired than dying.
She would tell me all the time
how she thought she was going to get fired.
I mean, I think she said that to me almost every single day.
And it got to a certain point
where I thought it was going to happen too.
I think the fact that she's this bad
violates the terms of the contract.
And I think we can get rid of her
without actually triggering any type of lawsuit.
She's the star of the fucking movie.
We've been shooting for three months.
But not if we fire her.
She's not coming out of the movie.
Pace was never a fan of Barbera.
And he asked me multiple times if we could replace her.
I need Barbera gone.
Your father is asking me to sculpt with razor wire.
I have always respected you, okay?
I've always respected your artistic vision.
And I just, I need you to let this one go
because my dad is never going to fire Barbera.
- That's it. - Okay, okay.
Do you think, do you think this is the first time
I've been told I can't do something
- or I have to let something go? - I'm letting you know.
I am a screenwriter, okay?
I create worlds and I fucking destroy them.
And if you make me destroy this world,
I will do it. You understand?
Then you're not going to have a movie, Pace.
I don't give a fuck about the movie.
- I do. - I don't care what you think.
I care about making art.
And if she is in this film, it doesn't exist anymore.
There is no story, there is no beauty,
there is no art.
So I may as well burn the fucking thing down.
- You understand? - Then go ahead.
- Burn the thing down. - Great.
Okay. Remember that you said that!
And then don't come crying to me when it's over.
Remember.
[Effy] Pace threatened Barbera all the time.
And when it was decided that she was staying in the film,
he couldn't handle it.
[Tedd] Hey, what's up?
Um, I'm sat here with Pace right now.
He doesn't believe, uh, anything that I'm saying right now.
So do you mind refreshing his mind
and telling him what you told me?
[Tedd] Hey, Pace.
I just got off the phone with Mocker.
And Barbera's staying in the fucking film.
So do whatever you want with that information.
Okay. Uh, Barbie.
- Uh, I gotta apologize to you. - Yeah?
- Okay? - Is this sincere?
Yes. That was the easy way for you to leave this film.
And now we do it the hard way. All right?
- Good luck. - Thanks. Appreciate it.
I always adored Barbera.
She had such a hard time on set.
She didn't deserve how she was treated.
I don't know who to trust anymore.
I don't know who are my friends. Everyone's fucking mean.
Well, you know you got me.
I'm lucky I do. You and your dad.
Initially, there was a lot of confusion as to why
Tedd was fighting so hard to keep her in the film.
There's a very simple reason Tedd refused to replace her.
Because they were having an affair.
They managed to keep their relationship quiet
for over a year.
But once Barbera was on set,
Tedd could no longer keep the relationship secret.
His jealousy and paranoia drove him
to make sure everyone knew she was his.
And what made him so paranoid
was Barbera's castmate and former lover,
Dustin Scott.
The story of their romance is shrouded with intrigue.
I mean, Tedd and Barbera were having an affair.
Dustin and Barbera were having an affair.
It was like the inception of affairs.
So Dustin was in love with Barbera
and Barbera was in love with Tedd.
And it was disaster for all of us.
Are you having a relationship with Barbera?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
And you're aware that she is currently having
a relationship with Tedd Mankiewicz?
Yeah.
And you thought, in your infinite wisdom,
that this was a good idea for you to do?
She was my girlfriend first, and...
Okay. With the playground rules.
Brilliant.
[Thomas] Can you talk to me a little bit about
Dustin and Barbera's love affair?
Mm, yeah, um,
I know they were childhood sweethearts
and then, uh, had some sort
of large, uh, profound relationship,
I guess, at least for Dustin.
Uh, and then it started up again.
Basically, the moment she arrived on the set,
which obviously drove Tedd insane.
He is a man that cannot comprehend things
he cannot control.
Dustin, I want you to kiss her like you know he's watching.
Because he is. You know what I'm saying?
You're trying to make me jealous.
No, no, no, I'm trying to make you
understand that you're a lesser man.
[Barbera] What am I supposed to do?
You're supposed to like it more than you like kissing him.
I'm jealous right now.
I want you to... You're jealous?
It's working? We're having a reaction?
[Tedd] Don't say that out loud.
[Christopher] Doesn't it feel good to have a human emotion?
You know what I mean?
I think there's a... Oh, there it is. Look at that.
[Dustin] Imagine you met the love of your life.
And you had a beautiful romance.
And then you fucked it all up. You break up.
You're miserable.
And then you're working on this movie
and you find out that your ex-lover
is now gonna be with you every single day.
Sex scenes, kissing scenes.
And you have to watch the person that you love
be in love with somebody else.
And if that wasn't bad enough, her new boyfriend
was my boss and would tell me what to do every day.
You're grabbing her tits like it's an eighth-grade dance.
Grab her like this.
Let me get to your level.
If you cross me again, I'll fucking kill you.
Yeah, that's how it's done.
Tedd was always fucking with Dustin.
He would do these, like, psychological mind games
for dominance.
And it was abusive.
I just can't believe that you do that shit in front of me, okay?
It's so fucking disrespectful. It makes me sick to my stomach.
Do you know how many fucking times I've heard this from you?
What do you mean?
Do you know how many times I've heard you say that shit to him?
Tedd uses a tactic called disruption of thought freedom.
It's a genius military strategy
to take over someone's brain and ruin them.
And that's how he broke Dustin.
[melancholy piano music]
I...
I truly believe you only get one real love in your life.
That one person that's supposed to be there with you,
going through the ups and downs, and...
And it was Barbera. We were meant for each other.
And I fucked it up.
And the really funny thing is that the one person
who was trying to help me fix this relationship
more than anyone else was Pace.
Now did Pace really want us to get back together
'cause he cared about us? I don't think so.
I think he was really just trying to fuck with Tedd.
But, nonetheless, he was being a couples counselor,
trying anything and everything he could
to bring us back together.
And if Barbera wouldn't have died,
I think it would have worked.
I was doing what I could to...
to, well, not mend the relationship,
I just needed them to be able to get through a fucking scene.
And, and in, in that context, that required her to be able
to, uh, look him in the eye without rolling her eyes
or vomiting or screaming
or any of the things that would happen
when she would see him.
You are welcome to attach a humanitarian instinct to me
whenever you like. You would be wrong.
I'm simply doing what is necessary
to get the film made.
No! No, no, no! Stop it! Stop! Right now! No, no.
No, no, listen. Okay?
Kissing is elemental. It's primordial.
It's deeper than sex, right?
It's just, it's natural, okay?
I don't want to see sex. I want to see love.
Okay? Show me.
- I give love. - Show me. Show me love.
I heard the rumors.
I tried to warn Dustin
about not getting involved with Barbera,
but he didn't listen.
And when my dad found out, it was actually worse
than I thought it would be.
Did you fuck Barb?
- No! I didn't-- - Dirty Dick Dustin.
- I didn't do anything.
- [Christopher] Tedd, Tedd, Tedd. - Pull your dick out.
I want to see if it smells like Barb.
Pull your dick out.
Starting a war with a guy like Tedd,
someone with an infinite amount of resources,
wouldn't even bode well for me, let alone Dustin.
[Tedd] I'll have Dustin killed right now
if you just cast Chalamet.
[Christopher] Uh, could you have him killed without, uh, Timmy?
[Tedd] Absolutely not.
[Christopher] Why does it have to be Timmy to kill--
[Tedd] You gotta give, you gotta give me something.
[Christopher] No, but can we get somebody else?
[Tedd] I'll have nothing for me to kill Dustin.
They say all is fair in love and war,
so Dustin decided to tell Tedd's wife
about the affair with Barbera,
which caused her to confront him in front of everyone.
- Who told you that? - You've been cheating on me.
- I've never fucking cheated. - Tell me the truth.
- I know you've been doing it! - I am telling you the truth.
- You've never... This is-- - I've never cheated on you.
Yes, you have!
What the fuck are you even talking about?
- You've never told me the truth. - Who told you that shit?
I'm not going to tell you who told me,
- but I know that it's true. - Was it Dustin?
[Thomas] After this was filmed,
Ted's wife threatened to leave him
if he didn't end things with Barbera.
And with her ability to prove infidelity,
he was looking at a billion-dollar divorce.
Two days later, Barbera Ball
was murdered by The Hollywood Killer.
[unsettling music] [heavy breathing]
[constricted breathing]
I don't understand why the man isn't in prison.
He had the motive. Obviously, he had the access.
He was sleeping with the woman killed.
To me, to anyone with eyes or who is not being paid,
it should be obvious.
But in order to avoid a fifth lawsuit from the man,
I'll call him an alleged murderer.
Who's alleging it? I am.
My dad would never hurt Barbera.
She made him so happy.
I've never seen him love anyone
as much as he loved her.
What they shared was like something
you read in a romance novel.
He always said that she reminded him
of a Caravaggio painting.
I've never heard him talk about anyone like that.
[Tedd] I saw so much greatness in her
as a human being, her talent.
[unsettling music]
She was my everything.
[Thomas] Do you miss her?
I miss her more than any human being that's ever lived.
[Thomas] Tedd's phone records show no calls
on the day Barbera died.
On a normal day, he averages 250 to 300 calls.
My dad and I went to Saint Moritz
for a few hours to look at a new house he was building,
and he broke his phone at the airport.
But I can assure you that his alibi is real,
and I was with him.
During any investigation, it's always fascinating
to see who a suspect thinks could have committed the crime.
And in this case, there's footage of it.
I'm not going to jail.
Rich people don't go to jail.
I wasn't even in the country, I swear.
You can check all the flight logs.
Everybody knows Dustin fucking killed her.
I have so many videos. Tell them I'll cut a deal.
We're now going to dive into our fourth suspect,
Dustin Scott.
There are many reasons why Dustin is a suspect,
but one stands out above them all.
[constrained breathing]
Dustin! Dust--
That video does not get you a conviction.
It does, however, tell us something,
that Dustin was the last thought on Barbera's mind.
But why Dustin?
Was it because she was saying goodbye
to the love of her life,
or because the love of her life was killing her?
You got that, right?
[Christopher] Got it. Won't use it. Do it again.
[sighs]
Put my hat back on. You're a fucking bitch.
[John] I know he was a pain in the ass,
but I'll always feel sorry for this kid.
I mean, this movie ripped out his soul.
I love Dustin Scott.
I just think he has
one of the most expressive faces.
Um, his performances are in the eyes,
gateway to the soul, his body.
He puts everything into it.
I mean, he's, he's a very emotional actor,
and I think he is literally a human PSA
about, don't be an actor, don't put your kids in acting.
I mean, every single thing, uh, that actors,
every trap actors can step in, he's actually stepped in.
Uh, a lot of the trysts that he had,
the women that he was with,
uh, some of the, the controversy
that he caused because of his relationships,
we don't see any of that.
We just see this, and we think
this is the only thing that's happening in this frame.
But there is another behind the scenes,
which is what actually happens off the set.
So, yeah, Dustin looks like he is just being pummeled.
He's the martyr for everyone.
He's the whipping boy here.
Um, but what Dustin does off the set is pretty outrageous.
I swear to God, if you bring
another fucking prostitute-- sex worker on set again,
I will kick your ass.
[John] Dustin really took Barbera's death hard.
He was doing all kinds of drugs.
We found him in a gutter,
unconscious at a strip club, 4:00 in the morning.
We covered it up from the press.
I would do whatever it took to keep him upright
in this movie.
I already got, you know, the investments there.
We were way into this thing
and Dustin has to be healthy, and he was a fucking mess.
So my, my question for you,
and I want you to take this with you into the scene, is,
what recently happened to Barbera,
uh, what do we think about the idea
that maybe you don't remember what, what you may have done?
'Cause I know you don't think you did anything,
but what about what you don't remember?
I remember one time, growing up as a kid,
some money came up missing at a church bingo,
and Father McCauley got so upset,
he bitch-slapped Sister Elizabeth.
I mean, if you push someone far enough,
it can get out of hand.
I want you to hang
the inadequacy of your performance
around your neck and wear it like a fucking albatross.
You understand? It's a millstone, all right?
You're dragging all of us down.
- All right. - It's like a, it's a thing.
- If I pull this... - [chokes] Okay, yeah.
...you can feel that, right? You can feel that.
I gotta hang you with this shit.
That's how bad your performance is.
I could use it to kill you.
Doing the same scenes
over and over again on multiple occasions,
it kind of takes it out of you.
It's like if you had
a tube of toothpaste that's already empty
and you just keep squeezing it and you think
something's going to come out, but there's nothing in there
and you're just crushing it in your fucking palm.
[sighs] I'm the tube of empty toothpaste.
I think I might faint.
- You're going to faint? Why? - I don't know.
Have you read this scene? Is this a fainting scene?
- Okay, Martin, you see that? - Whoa, whoa, whoa.
No, no, don't touch him. You understand what happened?
This man's talent cannot overcome
his given circumstances.
That's what we call bad acting, all right?
Don't look at him. Do the scene without him.
I'm going to back up and get the shot, all right?
Okay, let's go!
This film took pieces of me that I will never get back.
I fucking hate you! All you do
is you yell and you lie and you yell and you lie!
And I can't take it anymore!
Why don't you do something about it, Dustin?
Fuck! [grunts]
Now we're going to learn about acting.
What is acting, Dustin? Acting is...
[Dustin] [grunts] [screams]
It's being acting, okay? We're not trying to win.
- [screams maniacally] [grunts] - All right, okay, now...
- [Dustin] [choking] - [Christopher] [grunts]
All right, Marty.
Um, I need something sort of tempting.
Pace used to tell me to never argue with Dustin
because it's hard to win a fight with a smart person,
but impossible to win one with a crazy person.
I worked with the guy for five years.
There's no doubt in my mind he could be the killer.
The things I've seen, you wouldn't believe it.
Shut the fuck up, Martin, okay? Just shut the fuck up!
- Shut up? - Yeah, shut-- [choking]
- More an angle. - I'll shut up?
- More an angle. - Shut up? I'm sick of you!
Marty, Marty, what did I tell you about the carotid?
- Martin! - You put pressure right here.
- Martin, I'm sorry! - Then he'll go to sleep.
Very close to me.
And then brace the back of his head here. Break it here.
You know, not many people know this,
but I actually used to go to middle school with Dustin.
Um, he had a nickname.
Back then, it was, uh, it was Bundy.
Not for Al Bundy, but for Ted Bundy,
because he was voted
"most likely to become a serial killer"
in our yearbook.
You know, when I really think about it, Dustin makes sense.
I let him go down on me once.
Blind man looking for a nickel.
There's this moment when a man is between your legs.
You can feel that energy just, you know, coming up,
and I got that, I got that murder energy.
What? You're not rolling fucking...
I just...
Oh, my fucking God! What are we...
What are we doing here? What are we doing here?
I've been doing this for four fucking years,
and now you're not even, you can't roll fucking sound?
What?
I was supposed to be a movie star, Pace!
I was supposed to be a movie star!
Now I'm going to rehab,
and I'm gonna fucking work at a McDonald's
because of this goddamn...
Fuck these fucking asshole punks!
I'm fucking done!
I'm telling you, Dustin is The Hollywood Killer.
That guy? That's a killer?
I mean, come on. He's so dumb.
Everybody knows this, you know?
He's about as smart as mayonnaise.
He's like the character from Sling Blade in real life.
The only person
that Dustin really wanted to kill was himself.
I can't do this anymore!
Why is this happening to me? [sobbing]
Churchill famously said that, when you are going through hell,
you just keep going.
Dustin's hell is within him, but he is a coward,
so he distracts himself with women.
He had a relationship with Ava,
and then, obviously, he had his relationship with Barbera,
and when she was killed, he moved on to Greata,
and when she was killed,
he attempted a relationship with Audrey.
The problem is that, when you have that inferno within you,
when you want to taste the heart of darkness,
you must release it,
because whether or not you do it,
it will find you. It will come for you.
And if you don't rise to meet it,
it will swallow you whole.
- [Dustin] [squeals] - I don't think that he's okay.
Mm, he's fine. He's okay.
[Dustin screaming gutturally]
Are we... Are we gonna break?
[Christopher] Yeah, break. Get off set for a second.
- Just fuck off. - [Dustin sobbing]
No, you can drink the water out of my shot.
Get the fuck out.
[Dustin] Can somebody... Oh!
I need my mom!
[Christopher] Yeah, you know what, Marty?
I think you should clear out, too.
[sobbing maniacally]
I pinned the camera down, because I was watching a murder,
a very slow murder in front of me.
[Thomas] During his tenure on Dissident,
Dustin allegedly slept with all three of the victims,
was committed to a psychiatric ward twice,
and overdosed once the day after Barbera died.
Dustin Scott was never charged.
However, when Barbera was murdered,
despite a public outcry to shut down the film,
the search for a new actress was on.
At this point,
uh, we are in the maelstrom.
This ship is taking on water.
The waves are crashing over the deck.
The crew is mostly dead of scurvy,
and the ones that are still alive...
are considering mutiny.
And then at this exact moment, a ship appears on the horizon.
A ship with its cannons firing directly at us,
flying a pirate flag with the name Greata Daniels.
- What is inside you? - I've never died before.
You've never died before?
What a fucking statement that is.
Fucking obvious. What is inside you, Greata?
- Nothing. - Exactly.
There's a saying in Hollywood.
The show must go on.
And with that, Dissident cast its third lead actress,
Greata Daniels.
Sometimes I think you just say fancy words
and think that they make sense,
but they don't, because you just want
to impress everybody around you.
Greata was a combination of Marla Singer from Fight Club
and Amy Dunne from Gone Girl.
A beautiful disaster.
You're so creepy. Do you know that?
It's part of the thing.
I love it, but, like,
the shit that comes out of your mouth sometimes
is just mind-blowing.
[Pearl] Greata was a shooting star in the sky.
Greata was a genius
wrapped in pain.
When I find girls like this, I peel them like an onion.
And I peel all the pain and the hurt
and the trauma and the distrust.
And you know what's in that onion?
A pearl.
I don't think Greata was ready for Dissident,
but Dissident definitely wasn't ready for Greata.
They explained this to me.
She, she's an alcoholic, right?
- That's what we're dealing with? - No, no, no, no, no.
This just keeps her level.
- It keeps her on an even keel. - It's my natural state.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, so we keep her at this even keel.
She's drunk right at this moment?
No, no, I wouldn't call it drunk.
- I would call it... - You know what, Pearl?
A state of meditation.
That's exactly what we call it, a state of meditation.
- It makes me a better actor. - Yeah, and keep her even.
She was supposed to be in rehab for 120 days.
We picked her up for production [chuckles] on the 30th day.
I shot up some Benadryl last night,
and then I did a lot of cocaine.
Do you think I'm gonna die?
What?
She just wasn't really easy to work with,
but the second that she really committed herself,
she's so talented and incredible to watch.
I would find myself watching her, like, magnetized almost,
like I could not take my eyes away.
It was insane, and everybody felt like that.
Everyone was obsessed with her.
I mean, she could have been a cult leader,
and we all would have blindly followed
her every single move.
A little cute puppy, and you just want to squeeze it
and throw it in the trash can.
I usually want to grab them by their ankles and just,
you know, against the wall.
No, but, like, when a baby is so cute, you just want to...
Greata was the most unpredictable person
I've ever met.
I mean, you never knew which version of her you would get
or if she would even show up.
Okay, I'll definitely come tomorrow.
Okay, fantastic.
So, again, uh, Martin, for you...
You couldn't count on Greata for much,
but what you could count on is
the bigger the day, the less likely it is she shows up.
[Tedd] Greata would just do whatever she wanted.
It didn't matter if she was shooting 30 minutes
or 30 hours on set.
She would just vanish. Nobody could find her.
[Christopher] All right, good morning, boys.
How we doing today? Listen, I, uh,
I just got off the phone,
and Greata's gonna be a no-show today.
[Martin] What?
Okay, yeah, Greata's not coming.
- What happened to Greata? - Well, it doesn't matter.
A series of events probably occurred,
all involving, you know, strangers' dicks
and, uh, and, you know, Colombian cocaine.
But that's not the point.
The point is she's not going to be here.
[Chad] Greata's gonna do whatever she wants
at any given moment.
Um, she's driven purely by instinct
and her own id, I think.
If she wants cocaine, that's what she's gonna do.
If she wants to show up on set, great, she'll be there that day.
If not, tough shit.
[Ivan] We're getting ready to do the big helicopter scene,
stuns several cameras, everybody's in place.
It's a big, it's a big scene to pull off.
Helicopter is in the air.
Everything is ready, and Greata doesn't show up.
Yeah. No, it's okay. We'll come get you.
Lisa, where's your fucking client, boo?
- I'm leaving her a voicemail. - She's not on the phone?
She is at a Vietnamese restaurant in Burbank.
Okay, okay. Can we...
I think she just felt
that production revolved around her.
No consideration for cast, no consideration for crew,
no consideration for Pace.
Everyone out here is scared of you.
I'm not scared of you. I'm sexually attracted to you.
[Christopher] We're fucking done! I'm done!
- Hi, sweetie. Yeah, okay. - Fuck you! Fuck you!
Fuck her! I love you. I'm sorry. It's not about you.
Fuck you! I'm done.
I love you too, Pace.
We contracted Greata for nine months.
She was killed on the 60th day,
and of the 60 days, she only showed up on set 37.
You can let her know, or you let Tedd know,
that if she does not come tomorrow,
I will fucking kill her,
'cause I don't appreciate the volatility.
She's not here now, she won't be here permanently.
That's it.
Greata was murdered that night by THK.
The video of her murder, like the others,
was posted moments after it was taken.
And the next day,
the FBI officially classified THK as a serial killer.
And that's when I got involved.
[eerie music] [Greata screaming]
There's a level of infamy that a serial killer makes it to
when they become known forever.
Pop culture icons.
White women can't get enough.
BTK, Night Stalker, Zodiac.
Now we've got The Hollywood Killer.
The first thing I did when I got on this case
was to subpoena the footage.
Upon reviewing it, I learned
that the cameras were rolling the entire time.
Something which I kept to myself,
as I knew this would be
my greatest resource of evidence.
And it was.
If anything ever happened to me,
if I ever died, look at fucking Melvin.
It's definitely Melvin.
It's never a good sign when the murdered person
calls you out by name,
but that's what happened to our fifth suspect.
Melvin Asher. [eerie music]
The overwhelming theory on Melvin
is that he wasn't happy with the actresses
and killed them one by one until he got
the one he thought could win him an Oscar.
His relationship with Greata certainly didn't help his case.
Greata, if you fuck this movie up for me,
I'll kill you.
The three things I look for in every serial killer's mind
are lack of remorse, the need to control,
and narcissistic personality disorder.
[Thomas] Can you tell me a little bit
about your relationship with Melvin?
Yeah, I, uh, [chuckles]
I was the lead of The Tarantula Prince.
That's his first movie. It's kind of what broke him out.
You're welcome.
[dramatic classical music] [swashbuckler laughs]
- [sword swishes] - To your death!
[swashbucklers grunting]
Yeah!
On paper, Melvin's probably your prototype for a killer.
He's got the size, he's got the anger,
he's got the snapping,
all the psychosis that goes
into being able to murder someone.
Hey, have you seen this man's intensity?
Wait till you interview him.
That guy doesn't say anything on accident.
I think his entire life story is rehearsed in a mirror, man.
[grunting]
Today is the day I win an Oscar.
I will win an Oscar today.
I am not a contender.
I am the fucking adventurer.
I will win this fucking Oscar.
I am not a loser. I am a winner.
I am not a bridesmaid. I'm the fucking bride.
Let's go.
[Thomas] Do you think there's any chance
that Melvin Asher was the killer?
[inhales sharply] Yeah, sure. Uh, it's, uh, possible.
If I was to write the story of Melvin as murderer,
I would tell it like this.
A man who has already achieved
great wealth and success and fame
from the movies he's done and yet is not satisfied.
He wants prestige. He wants something more.
He wants to be taken seriously. And he finds himself
on a movie where he believes he can do just that.
And yet there are women
that he perceives to be in his way.
Now, what does a man
who knows he cannot achieve happiness
unless he wins an award for this film,
what is this man willing to do?
Would he kill for it?
In this story, I believe he does.
You know, signing on to Dissident was a dream for me.
Hey, Melvin.
What do you think bad acting looks like?
- Like bad acting? - There it is.
I see it. It's, it's like this. I see it right now.
- Stop it. - All right. All right, let's go.
Working with Pace is something
I wish every performer could do.
Okay, he pulls the artist from the actor.
And after doing the Quick and Quicker films
for the last decade,
it's what I needed.
But knowing this footage is out there,
I can understand how people
could have this perception of me.
I hope they know that I truly, truly cared about this film.
And then at my core, I'm...
You know, I'm just a good guy.
What the fuck, man?
Ivan, what are we fucking doing?!
I know people have their opinions on him,
but I love Melvin.
He's my godfather.
He took that role very seriously.
He postponed production on a major motion picture
so he wouldn't miss the opening night
of my school play.
He taught me how to drive when I was, like, 13.
And he was the first person to say, "Do it,"
when I wanted to make movies.
That being said, he had issues with the girls.
He fought with Ava.
It's really hard to act with somebody who's so dumb,
but it's okay.
[Christopher] This is a Melvin thing?
- Because of his stupidity? - "So dumb"?
[Christopher] We had an entire meeting about how stupid he is.
"So dumb"?
I mean, he has 45 million dollars, so...
Yeah, you know communication is only 30% verbal, right?
So what you said doesn't matter.
I don't know that you know what you're talking about at all.
I'm, guys, I'm so tired.
I really am hungry and I gotta go.
[Christopher] Don't run away from the fight.
- Just engage with him. - Oh, no, no, no--
He's an asshole. He's the worst.
An asshole? I was trying to help. I was trying to help.
- Subtext, okay? Great, awesome. - Oh, yeah.
Oh, okay. So you're just--
You're so smart, sweetie. Yeah, just look pretty.
You're very handsome. That's good for you.
- Thank you. I appreciate that. - Can we go?
He never thought Barbera was right for the role.
- Get rid of her. - No, I--
You know how much money that's gonna cost?
You know, all the things involved.
I don't know if I have it in me.
John, it'll cost you less money. I'll waive my fee.
And Greata?
Well, he despised Greata.
This has been the pinnacle of my career,
working with each and every one of you.
I appreciate and I love
every single one of you on this set, okay?
And I just wanna, I just wanna thank you.
I love you all. Uh, except for Greata.
I hope she fucking dies. All right, that's it.
- Let's go. - You're done?
Working with Greata was the worst experience of my life.
- She even know here lines? - You know your line?
[obnoxious chewing]
- Of course I know my lines. - Can you say for me, please?
- Pearl? - There you go.
Greata did not deserve to be in this movie.
She had no respect for the craft or her fellow actors.
She didn't even remember her fucking line!
Okay, okay, okay. You know what I want?
Where's her juice? Where's her fucking--
No, no, this is what we need.
You've done the action films, right? Okay?
I want you to apply some pressure.
Sleeper hold. Don't let her pass out!
Bro, you gotta fucking microdose her!
Just a little bit.
- Give her her alcohol. - That's the microdose!
[Melvin] I wanted to be exceptional in this film.
And she was inhibiting me
from reaching my potential with this character.
And I have to be honest.
It affected me.
Greata, do you know how many scenes in cars I've had to do
to do this scene in this fucking car?
First you threaten me, and then you fucking yell at me!
I don't know who you think you are,
but you're messing with the wrong person.
You really don't wanna fucking threaten me.
Melvin hates Greata more than I hate Tedd.
My entire fucking life I worked to be here!
In this car? Right now? God, that must be depressing.
[Martin] It was never-ending, all day,
every day. Greata, Greata, Greata.
[sighs]
She's doing fucking coke.
She's showing up late. It's un-fucking-believable, man!
[Martin] Hey, calm down.
No, no, she's fucking up Pace's words, right?
She's fucking up Ivan's vision, and she's fucking up my Oscar!
It's fucking, God...
If it's meant to be, you'll get the Oscar.
- I am gonna get the Oscar. - That's what I'm talking about.
She's fucking it up, man! Pisses me off.
If all that wasn't enough,
Pace got Melvin to confess to the murders.
You can do it. "I strangled those three women."
- I strangled those three women. - "And it felt good."
- And it felt good. - "And it felt right."
- And it felt right. - "Because it was right.
- Especially fucking Greata." - [inhales sharply]
Oh, yeah, that one! That one!
[roars]
- Yes! Yes. - [roars]
- That one felt good. - [roars]
[Smitty] When he admitted that he did the murder,
we didn't know whether it was maybe performance,
you know, he's going after that Oscar or not,
but, man, we all looked around and said, "Holy shit."
[Thomas] What do you have to say about the confession?
Method acting.
Melvin never wanted Ava, Barbera, or Greata
in Dissident.
There was only one actress he thought was right for the part.
And after every murder, he would pitch her to Tedd.
Sort of singles until we find a new actress.
- By the way, I talked to Tedd. - Huh?
- Audrey's available. - Who?
Audrey Evans.
Who is Audrey Evans?
You feel inspired?
No, I don't feel inspired. I'm fucking freezing.
You can't take inspiration from the cold?
I fucking hate you. I, I fucking hate you.
I fantasize about you fucking dying.
I hope you get fucking syphilis. You probably already have it
because you're sleeping with Ava.
I fucking hate you. Everyone fucking hates you!
- Okay, okay, okay. - And I hope you fucking die!
Now let's meet our fourth and final girl,
Audrey Evans.
Audrey Evans, I, I'm a big fan.
She's really an excellent actress.
She does all her own stunts.
There's really very little that she has not accomplished.
I do think that her ending up in Dissident makes sense.
She's there in a way to avenge
her co-star from Blue Orchid, Greata,
who had a tragic fate on Dissident.
And I think, I think she kicks ass in the film.
I think she does a great job.
I was so excited to do this movie.
But...
The time has come.
For what?
It's time.
[laughing] I'm sorry. Are we going?
This film was a nightmare.
I've never had a worse time doing something.
They don't give you a script.
They don't tell you what's happening.
You don't even know who else is in the scene.
They just go. They press record.
Actually, I don't even know if they ever did press record
because it's just constantly rolling.
You just go. And people are just saying shit.
And you just have to go with it.
Why are you going along with what he says?
Sister, I'm at the bottom of the call sheet.
"Sister"? What am I the fucking sister?
It's not my place!
I thought you were my fucking friend.
- You are a joke. - I am your friend.
- You fucking pussy! - Ah! I'm your friend!
- You're a fucking loser! - I'm your friend!
- You're a fucking-- - No! No! Ah!
- Not in the water! - I fucking hate you!
I thought you were my friend, you piece of shit!
Why are you just going along with whatever the fuck he says?
[indistinct]
I have no control here.
What you have to understand
is that Audrey comes into this film,
I don't know, 500 days into it or something.
She's the fourth actress. Three actresses have died.
She's got a lot on her shoulders.
I mean, this is someone who is following in footsteps
that are basically tainted.
And finally, most fundamental,
have you ever been inside a Turkish prison?
- Why are you yelling? - Why am I yelling?
Because I'm fucking passionate! Why aren't you yelling?
After her first week on set, Audrey called me and she said,
"I'm going to take over this fucking movie."
Some people get on a bad set and they see it as a problem.
I see it as an opportunity.
An opportunity to take over the whole fucking production.
Choose a fucking side.
[Christopher] Cut!
Holy shit. [screams] Oh, my God.
Oh, calm down. It's not even loaded.
Sorry.
I started off as Audrey's assistant,
um, which, as we all know,
and you guys have seen, um, was brutal.
Sandra, get the fuck out. Go on!
[Sandra] Oh, God. Oh, sorry.
I was one of Audrey's biggest fans.
Oh, it's so hot.
Your mother called and your agent called.
Who would you like me to call back first?
- My agent. - Okay.
I got that. Oh, let me see.
I mean, I grew up looking up to her.
She's one of those people that does her own stunts.
She's like the modern day female version of Tom Cruise.
She's pretty incredible and amazing.
Um, except she's just a terrible person.
[crying] I'm just really overwhelmed!
How is he supposed to do his job if you're standing here crying?
- Yeah, you think about that. - Waa! Waa! Waa! Waa!
Oh, my God, just go to my trailer!
Fuck me! Sorry, she's just...
I remember Audrey's first day.
Pace said he wanted to test her,
but I think he wanted to make her quit.
[Christopher] I need less acting from the fire!
- [coughing] - Down! Take it down!
[Martin] Look, we burned through 11 Ferraris that day
to get a 10-second scene.
To Audrey, this was all insane, but to all of us,
this was just another typical day on Dissident.
[Audrey] You met me at a strange time in my life.
We were so fortunate to have Audrey.
She made this movie
and was just a pleasure to share scenes with.
I know Audrey hated Pace's methods,
but that's what it takes.
He does whatever he needs to get the best out of you.
The real question before we begin is,
do either of you know what a paradox is?
- No. - God, no.
And that's what he did for Audrey.
He challenged her.
Both of you are movie stars
and yet are completely without talent.
- This is a paradox. - What?
It's not that she's deeply untalented.
I won't say that.
I, I don't think Audrey is, is untalented.
The, the issue is, you know,
what is your talent, uh, being used for?
And like a cancer, uh, Audrey's talent
is to turn the facets of life of the film
in on themselves
and to destroy from, from within.
Um, so a talented girl, uh, uh, a terrible actress.
[Dustin] Whether you like him or not, Pace is the boss.
And Audrey always wants to be the boss.
She's a control freak.
She needs to take over everything and manipulate it.
I'm about to fucking direct this myself
if you don't fucking figure your shit out!
I have, like, 0% body fat, I'm fucking freezing,
and this has been going on way too long!
Ah, shit!
- Don't fucking touch me! - I don't know.
God, fuck!
I need you to get this pine cone down!
Oh, my God! Where are you going?
To get the pine cone down!
[Audrey] I called Tedd, crying,
begged him to get me out of this shit show.
And I'll never forget what he said.
He said, "The only way you're getting out of this film
is in a body bag."
You just make up your mind, I will do whatever you want.
Just choose one thing and I will fucking...
[Christopher] You'll do whatever I want?
I will, I will do whatever you want.
[Christopher] That's fantastic. Quit! Quit.
Quit. Leave the set.
I can't fire you 'cause I, I already fired, uh, Barb,
tried to, then they killed her.
Greata, tried, then they killed her.
Well, hopefully, they'll fucking kill me.
[Christopher] I... God, you're preaching to the fucking choir!
But if you want to avoid that,
why don't you just walk off the set?
You know what I mean? Wouldn't that be easier?
You just let go.
Imagine someone has their hands around your throat, okay?
Just tell me what you want--
[Christopher] And they're-- I want you to quit.
I just want you to die. You're struggling.
You're fighting back. Just let go.
Let darkness take you. Return to the void.
Just let go. There it is.
There it is. She's letting go.
We see that? Let go. Okay.
Keep letting go.
Beautiful. Can we roll?
- We rolling? Okay. Let go. - [Ivan] Yeah, we're rolling.
[Christopher] This is beautiful. All right. And action.
[heavy breathing]
No, you're holding on. Let go. Let go!
No, don't make a snow angel. There it is!
She let go.
Pace can say he hated Audrey all he wants,
but he did all of this very intentionally to get
the performance out of her that he wanted.
And it worked.
[shallow breathing]
If you're lucky enough to get out of here with your life,
you better thank whatever God you pray to.
[sinister laughing]
[Christopher] You don't work with people like Audrey.
You subvert them. You survive them.
You participate in little wars against them.
Small coups. You undermine them.
And you hope to God that they die
of some sort of coronary event
before they ever complete whatever task
they have set out on.
[grumbles]
Which brings us to Audrey's attempted murder.
As you have seen, even someone as gifted
as gifted as The Hollywood Killer
was not able to complete a scene with her.
Or was he?
[unsettling music]
[gasps] [screams]
Despite...
having all of the circumstances
that allowed him to complete
these previous murders successfully abdicates.
Have you seen the video? He lets her go.
[choking] Help!
[choking] [bellowing]
[panting] [grunts] Help!
Production on Dissident wrapped
two days after the attempted murder,
and as of the recording of this interview,
The Hollywood Killer has stopped,
leading many people to believe that the killings
were motivated by the killer's desire
to shut down Dissident.
With that in mind,
I want to look back at all of the suspects.
Christopher Pace swore
that he would do anything to protect his film,
even burn it to the ground.
Lawrence Hughes was devastated with Ava leaving him
and vowed to destroy the film.
Tedd Mankiewicz,
with a billion-dollar divorce looming,
his reputation on the line, and an ego-shattering affair
between Dustin and Barbera,
some say Dissident hurt Tedd more than anyone else.
No one wanted the film to end more than Dustin.
His downward spiral of heartbreak, addiction,
and death took him to the edge and pushed him right off.
Melvin Asher, on his quest for perfection, as an actor,
Melvin made it clear that he would destroy anyone
who stood in his way.
When I started, I thought I was trying
to find something like the Zodiac Killer.
But the longer this went on, the more I realized this may be
more of a Orient Express situation.
All the suspects were isolated,
fed disinformation, then weaponized with rage.
Hollywood Killer's cinematic fingerprint
is different in each of the murders.
We are watching different killers
working from the same script.
But the question is, who wrote it?
After 20 years of profiling serial killers,
there's one thing I can tell you.
There's no way one suspect
could have killed all three victims.
And there's no way these people work together.
So after considering all possibilities,
only one person stood to benefit
from all three deaths.
The man who owns 20% of the film,
who kept the cameras rolling the whole time,
and used the murders of these three actresses
to launch the most impactful marketing campaign
in cinema history.
They say there's nothing more deceptive
than an obvious fact.
And the fact is the mastermind of all of this
was there the whole time, hiding in plain sight.
I've been working on this documentary for a long time.
And I think when it comes out and people see this,
they're going to think that you did this on purpose.
You know what?
This world is all about the court of public opinion.
And I'm not interested in it.
I'm just interested in creating art.
Hopefully, my work will be judged by the art that I leave,
that I create.
There's no denying that. Dissident is a masterpiece
and the biggest movie of all time.
And it changed the film industry forever.
I know. I think that's my legacy.
[Thomas] So I guess the question I wanna know,
and I guess the question everybody wants to know, is,
did you know this was gonna happen?
Every great cinematic villain has that moment
when they reveal their plan.
They do it because they know, no matter what they say,
you can't stop it.
But Demy's plan was to change Hollywood forever.
And he did that.
Give someone a mirror and they will see themselves.
Give them art and you will see their soul.
And now his masterpiece is complete.
[Christopher] We burned through $90 million of film.
[Mervin] If you ruin this movie,
I'll have you killed.
[John] What does it take to be an actor?
[Ava] Do you think I'm gonna die?
[Anne] I got that murder energy.
Does yelling make a scene good?
[Audrey] The only way you're getting out of here
is in a body bag.
[Man] There are no second takes in life.
[Demy] It's unfortunate the way it is all laid out.
[indistinct]
I don't want to die.
[Lawrence] I miss her more than any human being
that's ever lived.
[Christopher] They hear that level of passion.
They hear that level of commitment.
And they want to be involved in it.
[Demy] Why do you watch this?
[Dustin] What I'm here for is for that image.
[Christopher] Now we're going to have to improvise.
[Anne] You find out about three women
starring in this one movie all die.
[John] You don't get news like that every day.
[Christopher] Making a film requires
the greatest sacrifice.
[Dustin] He might be the best director that we've ever seen.
[Demy] And it's often reputation.
That's the intent of all my work.
[Christopher] I can just do things that I normally...
Do you know how many actresses
have died trying to make this film?
[Thomas] It's the greatest story ever told.
And Hollywood didn't write it.
[uplifting music]