The Staircase

[Replies From View]

Will there be an owl in this, or not so much?

[elliszeroed]

Apparently he, Petersen, ended up dating one of the documentarians during the filming of the doc.

But it didn't affect the editing!

[Pimhole]

Will there be an owl in this, or not so much?

There have been a few heavy-handed shots of Toni Collette looking ominously up at some trees, they were pretty funny.

It also covers the relationship between Peterson and the French film editor who is played by Juliette Binoche.

Spoiler alert

It heavily implies that this makes the original documentary irretrievably biased.


It also looks like they are going to show a recreation of every theory of Kathleen's death. So we've already had the Peterson defence theory in episode one. Ep 4 shows Michael murdering her (although not with the blow poke). So yes, I think Collette is doomed to fall down these stairs and piss herself over and over again and at some point, there will be an owl. I wonder if it will be CGI or animatronic?

[close]

[Replies From View]

THE OWLS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM

[studpuppet]

I wonder if it will be CGI or animatronic?

[studpuppet]

It's a great doc and deserves the plaudits it gets for kickstarting the current true crime craze but when you hear about the stuff the makers left out it really shows what a narrative they were trying to spin.

Nowhere near as disgraceful as Making a fookin' Murderer, mind. But getting info about the case from other sources really made me realise that you have to treat all true crime series as entertainment trying to create an engaging storyline first and as an actual honest account of went down a distant second.

I re-watched The Thin Blue Line a week or so ago, and even though I knew the ending, it's brilliant at framing the multiple re-enactments as per the current interviewee's story, and then showing their unreliability as a witness straight afterwards.

[imitationleather]

Oh shit yeah I'd forgotten The Thin Blue Line. Gonna get that rewatched again tonight.

Insert joke about how my favourite character is the gay fellah who is now a mad TERF etc.

[Pimhole]

The Staircase Filmmakers Feel "Betrayed" by HBO Max's Adaptation

But according to de Lestrade and other members of the original Staircase's team—producer Allyson Luchak, editor Scott Stevenson, and Rudolf, who appeared onscreen as Peterson's defense attorney—the remake's fifth episode, "The Beating Heart," airing next week, recklessly blurs fact and fiction. In it, several scenes suggest that the eight original Staircase episodes were edited by Brunet (Juliette Binoche)—the real-life Staircase editor who opened her home to HBO Max's production when they were shooting in Paris—while she was entangled in a romantic relationship with Peterson.

In real life, Brunet did have a relationship with Peterson. De Lestrade has been candid about this in the past, and Peterson even wrote about the relationship in his 2019 book, Behind the Staircase. But all four, and Brunet herself in an email to Vanity Fair, confirm that Brunet and Peterson did not begin corresponding until after she left the documentary as planned to edit another project, 2004's Holy Lola. De Lestrade hadn't expected The Staircase to yield so much footage; he wound up enlisting two other editors, Stevenson and Jean-Pierre Bloc, to cut what would end up being eight episodes total.

...

"To malign or discredit our filmmaking by making it seem as though we were biased from the beginning is insulting and professionally damaging," says Luchak, reiterating that the point of The Staircase was to immerse audiences in the American criminal justice system rather than prove Peterson's guilt or innocence. "I don't know why anyone would want to do this to Jean or Sophie, and undermine the work of so many."

"I understand if you dramatize. But when you attack the credibility of my work, that's really not acceptable to me," says de Lestrade. "It's alleged that we cut the documentary series in a way to help Peterson's appeal, which is not true."

[Pink Gregory]

blow poke

[lauraxsynthesis]

I've seen the first episode and kinda lost patience. These long form US dramas really move at a crawl don't they. I also had a look at Better Call Saul S6 E5 having not watched since series 3 or 4 and the story seems to have moved on a few months.

I don't approve of all the lurid focus on the corpse, sometimes naked corpse, of a probably murdered woman.

If the owl had been in episode 1 I'd have perked up. If it does appear I'll look in again.

Another person Firth!Peterson's lawyer looks like is Joaquin Phoenix innit

[thugler]

Of course the documentary is biased, and they obviously had a position on his guilt. I don't see why they would even bother denying that. Whether that specific woman was in a relationship with him while editing it is a bit of a moot point.

I think he very obviously did it, no other explanation makes much sense, and he seems like a super manipulative person. I still don't really understand how he got off.

Thought the cast in this is great, particularly Firth.

Funny to see people actually suggesting owls did it rather than the guy with the obvious motive. They didn't even end up pursuing that nonsense as a defence as i understand it.

Absolutely wild that the dodgy blood splatter guy ultimately ended up letting him get away with it.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I also had a look at Better Call Saul S6 E5 having not watched since series 3 or 4 and the story seems to have moved on a few months.

That's because Better Call Saul is set over the space of about three years at most.

Fair enough if you think the story has been dragged out over six seasons - I don't - but it's obviously not going to make much sense if you just randomly dip into an episode after missing so much.

[imitationleather]

I'm no TV Tropes man but:
Person drinks two beers = Alcoholic
Person smokes indoors = French

I think this may be a hack series.

[imitationleather]

Also there's the guy playing Rudolph who is also yer Sackler man in the Disney+ spin on the opioid crisis Dope Sick and he's dreadful in both. I think he is honestly a bad and hammy actor. He reacts to everything like Matt Smith's companion in Doctor Who, I forget her name. You know the one. Anyway, he's rubbish.

It's why I very rarely watch this sort of TV. I was just interested in the subject.

[bgmnts]

Of course the documentary is biased, and they obviously had a position on his guilt. I don't see why they would even bother denying that. Whether that specific woman was in a relationship with him while editing it is a bit of a moot point.

I think he very obviously did it, no other explanation makes much sense, and he seems like a super manipulative person. I still don't really understand how he got off.

Thought the cast in this is great, particularly Firth.

Funny to see people actually suggesting owls did it rather than the guy with the obvious motive. They didn't even end up pursuing that nonsense as a defence as i understand it.

Absolutely wild that the dodgy blood splatter guy ultimately ended up letting him get away with it.

The guy did a significant amount of time for a crime it was nowhere certain he committed, with faulty evidence and as you say an incredibly fucked up specialist who literally made things up.

The owl theory is suggested because there is evidence that that could have happened.

Regardless of all this, Juliette Brinoche just gets more beautiful with age and it's strange.

[thugler]

The guy did a significant amount of time for a crime it was nowhere certain he committed, with faulty evidence and as you say an incredibly fucked up specialist who literally made things up.

The owl theory is suggested because there is evidence that that could have happened.

Regardless of all this, Juliette Brinoche just gets more beautiful with age and it's strange.

There were 3 microscopic owl feathers. And a tiny sliver of tree bark. That was it.

It's never going to be proven as a certainty that any murderer did it. But he's the only one with the clear motive, the opportunity, he's covered in her blood and there's a whole bunch of suspicious manipulative behavior and a willingness to lie constantly there. It's by far the most likely thing that could have occured.

[EOLAN]

Also there's the guy playing Rudolph who is also yer Sackler man in the Disney+ spin on the opioid crisis Dope Sick and he's dreadful in both. I think he is honestly a bad and hammy actor. He reacts to everything like Matt Smith's companion in Doctor Who, I forget her name. You know the one. Anyway, he's rubbish.

It's why I very rarely watch this sort of TV. I was just interested in the subject.

Rewatching the documentary alongside this. Have seen that actor in Dopesick and The Judge (ot whatever that Bryan Cranston show was). He certainly seems to be an actor who has one type of characterisation. Kind of detached and an awkward uncomfortable guy to be around.

Surely must have been some sort of deliberate choice to choose someone whose portrayal is the complete opposite of how Rudolph comes off in the documentary. Very personable, interactive, quick-witted. Is it just terrible casting or are they trying to heighten characterstics they feel he had when the cameras weren't rolling.