Director/Co-Screenwriter Rupert Goold with actors Jonah Hill and James Franco on the set of “True Story.” The film is based on journalist Michael Finkel’s memoir which chronicles his firsthand account of the arrest and trial of accused murderer Christian Longo.
This week’s episode of The Road to Cinema Podcast features a conversation with Rupert Goold, the director and co-screenwriter behind the new film “True Story.” Goold, an accomplished theatre director, makes his feature film debut with this suspenseful drama based on the best selling memoir of Michael Finkel, a former writer for The New York Times. When Finkel (played by Jonah Hill) is fired from the Times for falsifying sources in an article, he faces the perils of chronic unemployment. His restless job search comes to screeching halt when he learns that a recently arrested man Christian Longo (played by James Franco) has been impersonating Finkel while he has been eluding the police. Finkel becomes fascinated with Longo, a man accused of murdering his entire family. As Finkel visits Longo in a cramped prison visitation room, the duo develops an ambiguous, empathetic rapport . Finkel begins to write his book, delving through personal evidence of a man who is seemingly docile on the outside but profoundly disturbed through his inner core. He questions Longo’s motivations as allegations begin to surface during a tense trial. Finkel begins to doubt his journalistic ethics from gauging the reactions of both the family of the victims and his wife (played by Felicity Jones) who watches Finkel’s growing obsession with Longo as the hours and days pass by.
Rupert Goold takes us through his initial interest in adapting Michael Finkel’s memoir as well as his approach for mounting his first feature film. Goold also delves into his process for working with actors Jonah Hill and James Franco; a process that resulted in 2 highly dynamic and nuanced performances.
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Watch the trailer for “True Story” opening in U.S. theatres on April 17th.