Since HBO‘s The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst aired in 2015, Durst, who was arrested shortly earlier than the docuseries’ surprising finale, was convicted of homicide in 2021 earlier than dying months later.
In that point, true-crime tasks have proliferated within the wake of hits like The Jinx and up to date docuseries Making a Assassin, the podcast Serial and based-on-a-true-story fictional collection like The Folks v. O.J. Simpson and subsequent American Crime Story installments.
But regardless of being a part of this early true-crime wave, The Jinx filmmaker Andrew Jarecki says that there have been issues about Durst that made him much more riveting than an unsolved homicide.
“I believe Bob is type of a unicorn as a result of he’s so uncommon, as a result of he’s such a robust persona and in addition reckless and in addition prepared to be trustworthy about issues that most individuals aren’t trustworthy about, so you are feeling such as you’re seeing inside him,” Jarecki instructed The Hollywood Reporter at Thursday’s New York premiere of The Jinx — Half Two, hitting HBO Sunday night time. “And past that he’s additionally wealthy and he’s additionally from this household, not solely a wealthy household, but additionally a household that he’s consistently embarrassing. There’s a lot to him, and he’s a troublemaker and type of a firestorm. That attracts folks in. It’s very seductive. I’m unsure we’re going to search out one other Bob Durst. Lots of people are going to search out fascinating tales in that vein, however I’m unsure I’m ever going to discover a story like that.”
Los Angeles deputy district legal professional John Lewin, who helped prosecute Durst for the homicide of Susan Berman and seems in The Jinx — Half Two, agrees with this evaluation, coming from the standpoint of a profession chasing criminals.
“I’ve been making an attempt instances and been a prosecutor for 30 years. After they made the Bob Durst mould, they broke it,” Lewin instructed THR. “As proficient as Andrew is, as nice because the present is, in the long run Bob Durst is singularly distinctive when it comes to who he’s and what he’s achieved. In case you had a fictionalized model of what occurred, folks would stroll out as a result of they might say it’s not plausible. So the wonderful thing about actuality is it doesn’t must be plausible, it simply has to have occurred. Bob, who he’s, how he responded and what he did, we’ll simply by no means see it once more and he’s compelling.”
Forward of a screening of the primary episode of Half Two, Jarecki seemed again at his 20-year journey with Durst and spoke about how the most recent batch of episodes focuses on complicity.
“We’d all the time say after we have been making the primary Jinx, we’d all the time say within the edit room, ‘How do you kill three folks over 30 years and get away with it? It takes a village.’ And let’s discuss who else was there enabling him, as a result of there was a complete group of people who find themselves all individuals who see themselves as peculiar, first rate folks however find yourself getting drawn in to those very unhealthy acts,” Jarecki stated, connecting Durst, as he has a number of occasions throughout this press tour, to former President Donald Trump. “That’s one thing that I really feel may be very well timed proper now, in order that’s one thing that drew me in was individuals who say, ‘I don’t know, I wasn’t a part of these unhealthy issues that occurred within the authorities; any person else did that.’ And that’s loads of what we noticed with Bob Durst: Somebody that was very persuasive, that was a spellbinder, with a powerful, hypnotic voice, loads of dominance. When Trump says, ‘While you’re a star they allow you to do what you need,’ I believe that’s what folks felt with Bob as effectively. He was all the time this crackly power. Even when it was a foul power — he was the place the motion was. He’s so fascinating. Sure, he’s wealthy however past being wealthy, he was this type of mesmerizing persona. He knew that about himself and he used that so he preyed on loads of susceptible folks. That was the type of factor that drew me in — perhaps that was Bob Durst drawing me in too however it was an necessary a part of it.”
Later, in a Q&A with Highlight director Tom McCarthy, throughout which Jarecki was joined by fellow producer Zac Stuart-Pontier, Jarecki took a second to focus on the complexity of a few of the individuals who helped Durst and obtained caught in his net, mentioning how they’re actual folks with wants and issues.
“It’s very straightforward for us to see a few of the folks you will note in Half Two and see them as type of ridiculous burlesque figures,” he stated. “Individuals who say, ‘Properly I did this, however I wasn’t a part of the issue; I used to be a part of the answer.’ It’s very straightforward to see these folks and type of put them at a distance and never see their humanity. However what we tried to do was see what was occurring inside. As a result of Bob actually did attract susceptible folks. And he discovered individuals who had wants. You need to ask your self — it’s straightforward to say, ‘I’d by no means have achieved one thing as amoral as serving to this assassin’ — however then you must say, ‘What if I had a sick little one and what if my good friend had some sum of money, in all probability 4 or 5 thousand {dollars}, that he was prepared to trickle out to me over time? That may seriously change the scenario in my household,’ so should you don’t perceive what was actually behind the complicity, you simply see it as a punchline.”
Jarecki, who instructed THR on the premiere of The Jinx half one which by the top of these episodes, “you’re going to know what occurred,” stated that there wasn’t as a lot of a central revelation coming in Half Two.
“I believe the surprises on this should not going to be a single shock, however it’s an especially stunning set of tales, and there are loads of revelations that have been big surprises to me,” he instructed THR Thursday. “It’s necessary to attempt to inform that story in a manner that makes these revelations current for the viewers, type of the best way that we uncover them.”
Jarecki additionally stated he tried to maintain folks just like the members of the family of Kathie McCormack, Durst’s first spouse who disappeared and whom he had lengthy been suspected of killing, in his focus at the same time as Durst will be distracting.
McCormack’s members of the family “weren’t jaded and did all the pieces I’d hope somebody would do if any person in my household had disappeared,” Jarecki stated. “[Her brother] Jim [who was at Thursday night’s event] typically talks about protecting the porch gentle on for Kathie. They did that for about 40 years and by no means forgot her. I hope that The Jinx and all the work we’ve achieved round it honors that. They actually trusted us to inform this story.”
Nonetheless, the filmmaker — who stated that his therapist, who had been listening to him discuss Durst for 20 years, was in attendance — couldn’t resist sharing yet one more anecdote about his early days with Durst.
Jarecki recalled a breakfast with Durst and his lawyer on the close by Lambs Membership, after he and Durst had met individually with Durst’s legal professional.
At that meal, Durst’s lawyer knowledgeable them that he thought Durst sitting down with Jarecki for the interview that makes up the majority of half one, “is presumably the worst thought I’ve ever heard in my whole life. You’ve been accused of three murders over 30 years and have by no means gotten convicted of any such homicide so maybe it will be clever so that you can depart effectively sufficient alone and never do such a ridiculous factor as sit with an investigative filmmaker and have him poke round in your life.”
Nonetheless, the legal professional continued, Jarecki recalled, “Because you’ve [Durst] already instructed me that you just’re undoubtedly going to do it, all I can inform you is [list of things Jarecki was supposed to do including giving Durst approval over the interview, which had to be turned over to his lawyer and only air once], and Bob interrupted him within the center and stated, ‘Steve, I don’t care if he places it on a billboard in Instances Sq., let him do what he needs.’”
Jarecki continued, “A number of years later, [my wife] Nancy and I have been strolling round Instances Sq. across the day of Bob getting arrested earlier than the ultimate episode and we seemed up and there was this large billboard and we stated, ‘Bob obtained his want.’”