Chapter 51

[music intensifies to threatening]

[muffled chopper blades chuffing]

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.

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? - Yes.

-You're a killer? -Yes!

-You're gonna kill for me? - Yes.

-You're gonna kill for me? -Yes.

Okay. Wait.

-Roll camera. - .

You a killer, Dustin?

Yes.

Action.

Killing isn't as scary as it sounds.

When you do it enough, you actually start to enjoy it.

[music obscures into eerie and triumphant]

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.

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.

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!

-Yeah? Uh-huh. No, no! -Okay, can I go?

You got to stop running away from it, okay?

Don't be afraid of it! Stay with it!

Again!

- Uh-huh. -Okay--

No, no. It looks like you're going to have a fucking orgasm.

Thank you, guys!

Get back down in the blood!

Get the fuck back in the blood!

- 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! - Yeah.

Listen to me.

I can feel your effort

to drive straight through the rubber and aluminum.

Do not drive like an actor, Marty!

Hold the window.

-Do not drive like an actor! - Go away!

-Drive like a fucking man! - 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.

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.

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."