Manson interviews—that stuff is pretty
well documented. We stayed as close
to that as we could while still having a
dramatic arc. I don’t think we attribute
anything to Kemper that he didn’t
say. I mean, he may not have used the
wordoeuvre.
What do you make of the true-crime
boom, from podcasts to TV?
I think there are a lot of people who
see themselves as detectives. Certainly,
when you see things likeThe Keepers
or listen toSerial, you can see that
some people just get their righteous
indignation stoked. Some people are
always fascinated by puzzles and the
political obfuscation of solutions,
because ultimately investigations
do bear the weight of political
ramifications.
Why do people seem more intrigued
by these subjects now?
In the information age there’s more to
excavate. There’s more access to what
Marcia Clark is really thinking or what
the Menendez brothers did the day
after. We’re very quick to judge. That
should be looked at as a human failing.
But I think at its best, people’s interest
in true crime is people’s interest in
trying to understand why we behave the
way that we do.Is that the purpose of this show?
I think so. I said many times in the
process of making this, “Wait a minute,
we’re making this show about serial
killers. We’re not making this showfor
serial killers.” Everyone wants to beas detail-oriented as possible, but at a
certain point you have to ask yourself,
“There is a prurient nature to this. Are
we feeding that? Do we want to know
more about humanity or do we want
to know about inhumanity?” That’s
always a hard question. Unfortunately,
ultimately, it comes down to taste.You’ve previously chafed at the
notion that you are the “serial-killer
director.” Did you worry that doing
this show would bolster that image?
I took on this project in spite of that,
because this show is not about serial
killers. This show is about FBI agents
and how they were able—through the
application of empathy—to understand
those people who were so difficult
to understand. That was what was
intriguing to me. I don’t need another
serial-killer title on my résumé. This
was not about that. It’s like inZodiac—
you never know who this person is. And
in this show, he’s right there and he
might talk to you. A HISTORY OF DANGEROUS MINDS Clockwise
from top left: Murderer Ed Kemper (Cameron
Britton) intimidates an FBI agent (Jonathan Groff) in
Mindhunter; Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman investigate
biblical murders inSeven; Chloë Sevigny lobbies Jake
Gyllenhaal not to hunt a serial killer inZodiacMAN BEHIND
THE MYSTERIES
The series is based on
the life and work of FBI
agent John Douglas,
who literally wrote
the book on criminal
psychology, also titled
Mindhunter.