The filmmaking team behind the 2004 docuseries The Staircase speaks out against their portrayal in the recent streaming dramatization of the same name. The new HBO Max drama, directed by Antonio Campos, premiered on May 5 and is slated to have an eight-episode run. The Staircase chronicles the 2001 murder of Kathleen Peterson , who is found dead at the bottom of her house's staircase.
The Staircase documentary miniseries was directed by Oscar winner Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. The program received a Peabody Award in 2005, and the team went on to create five additional episodes following up on Peterson’s trial. The Staircase team had close access to Peterson, his family members, and archival materials throughout the filmmaking process. The series’ main editor, Sophie Brunet, even had a romantic relationship with Peterson after her role on documentary finished.
“Documentarians are a lot like journalists in that we’re trying to preserve a certain degree of integrity and ethical behavior. While we obviously have to edit material, wade through hundreds of hours of footage, and make choices to tell a compelling story…there’s a process of doing it in a way to preserve integrity…. Jean is a man of principles and ethics. To spin it any other way takes away from all of us, him, and this series in particular.” “I feel, again, really uncomfortable.
Stevenson’s comments address an important distinction between the editorial hand and the falsification of the truth. Stevenson and the documentary team acknowledge their editorial hand in The Staircase's creation, but want it known that they worked to use their artistic choices for storytelling, not fictionalization. Campos and his writers may have taken these creative liberties too far, undermining the meticulous work of de Lestrade on the original Staircase series.
Beyond outraging the documentary team behind The Staircase, HBO Max and its parent network HBO have a lot to lose with this recent backlash to its new series. In releasing popular true crime titles such as 2015’s documentary The Jinx, HBO has become one of the most popular networks for various true crime programs. It remains to be seen whether HBO will follow de Lestrade’s request for disclaimers, but without them, the network and streaming service risk its future credibility.
Not sure about this hoopla but I'm finding the new Staircase series pretty tedious.
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