Preview: “Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy”
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What is the focus of the new series 'Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy'?
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How does this series differ from other true crime documentaries?
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Hey, everyone. I'm Andrea Canning here with a bonus episode for Dateline followers. We're diving into a chilling new drama series now available on Peacock, the streaming channel, which is owned by our parent company, NBCUniversal. Our colleagues at NBC News Studios are producers on the project. It's called Devil in Disguise, John Wayne Gacy.
Why did the showrunner initially hesitate to take on this project?
I gotta set the record straight. I killed so many
Gacy was one of America's most prolific serial killers. In the 1970s, he kidnapped and murdered at least 33 young men and buried most of them in the crawlspace beneath his house. But here's what's different about this new show from other documentaries and films you might have seen on the murders. Gacy isn't the main focus. Devil in Disguise is a show about Gacy's victims, who the young men were before they met Gacy — their family's heartbreak and trauma after their murders, and the systemic failures and societal prejudices that allowed Gacy's crimes to go unnoticed for so long. Recently, I sat down with the showrunner Patrick McManus. He was also an executive producer, director, and writer on the series.
What themes are explored regarding the victims and their families?
We were joined by two of the stars of the series, Michael Chernus, who plays Gacy, and Gabriel Luna, who plays the detective who helped crack the case. What followed was a conversation about honoring victim stories, crafting respectful narratives in true crime, and acknowledging the everyday heroes who solve those crimes. Well, thank you all for being here.
Yeah, thanks for having us.
So, Patrick, let me start with you. Why did you decide to do this show and shape it the way that you did?
Yeah, I mean, the story that I keep telling everyone is just the true story, which is that I turned it down twice. Really? Yeah, I did not want to do it. And Universal Content and Peacock, they came to me a third time and they had said,
How do the actors prepare for their roles in this true crime drama?
will you just take a look at the documentary? And I said, okay. And I watched the documentary that is on Peacock. It's brilliant. The documentary is really, really amazing. But I didn't come away from watching the documentary wanting to do it because at the end of the day, the documentary is very, very focused on John Wayne Gacy. And so I said to them, I said, look, if you will let me do it my way, and I didn't mean it in an obnoxious way. I just meant that I want to focus it on the police. I want to focus it on the lawyers. I want to focus on the victims' families.
What challenges did the actors face while portraying their characters?
And at the time I said, and I would like to focus it on the victims. And to their credit, they said yes. And from that day, they have held true to that.
As someone who for Dateline, you know, I sit across all the time from victims' families. That's what we do. And the one thing that I felt like just quickly watching it, you know, right away, I could feel how much you captured that. the victim's family. It's like the mom and she has that conversation with her daughter about Christmas and, you know, there's no food in the house.
I'm going to head out. Why?
How does the show address the systemic failures in the investigation?
No. Just for a little bit. There's no food in the house. That's not true. Are we still having people over for a Christmas dinner? We should, right?
But like that's what those families go through where like what is the point of celebrating Christmas?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the focus of the new series 'Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy'?
0:00–0:32
2
How does this series differ from other true crime documentaries?
0:32–1:16
3
Why did the showrunner initially hesitate to take on this project?
1:16–2:08
4
What themes are explored regarding the victims and their families?
2:08–2:52
5
How do the actors prepare for their roles in this true crime drama?
2:52–3:22
6
What challenges did the actors face while portraying their characters?
3:22–3:56
7
How does the show address the systemic failures in the investigation?
3:56–4:26
8
What impact does the series aim to have on the audience's understanding of the victims?
4:26–24:31
Speakers
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