In 1978 a notorious serial killer took part in a televised dating game, possibly looking for his next victim.
Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman of the Hour is based on this true story. In the film, which will air on Netflix, Kendrick plays Sheryl Bradshaw, who is at the center of an episode of the 1970s blind date TV show The Dating Game.
“Bachelorette #3, don’t let me down!” he says laughing. A line with chilling significance, as the world later learns that contestant number 3 is Rodney Alcala, the serial killer who became known as the dating game killer.
How a serial killer ended up on a dating show and won a blind date [εικόνες & βίντεο]
Netflix: All the series and movies coming in October
Kendrick was originally only committed to star in “Woman of the Hour,” but eventually signed on to direct as well. “As soon as I was offered to direct the film, I realized that I love the character, but I love the film as a whole much more than the character,” he describes, adding, “I think I was very invested in the script and parts of the script in which my character doesn’t participate in, in a way that I normally wouldn’t. I really like the complicated journey of a woman who pulls herself together and is very pleasant and then manages to rebel and get some power back.”
For his part, screenwriter Ian McDonald tells Tudum: “When Anna signed on to direct, she admitted that what she always found interesting was that this is a film about the danger that comes from our willingness to be intimate with a another person. And this is true anytime you date someone you don’t know – you make yourself vulnerable. Of course, the flip side is that you also don’t want to shut down. And so, a vulnerability emerges that is necessary, but still accompanied by risk.”
“Woman of the Hour” will focus on the infamous episode and the murders that occurred both before and after it aired in 1978.
What ‘Woman of the Hour’ is all about
While “Woman of the Hour” will revisit the circumstances of Alcala’s crimes, the story will take a unique approach: it will focus on the women whose lives he took, rather than the killer himself.
“Woman of the Hour” is the story of an aspiring actress in Los Angeles in the 1970s and a serial killer whose lives intersect when they participate in an episode of “The Dating Game.”
Daniel Zovatto will play Rodney Alcala, while Anna Kendrick will star as Cheryl Bradshaw – the bachelorette who starred in the infamous episode.
Kendrick and McDonald “dive” into the story of the “dating game killer” and his victims. Kendrick came across a few items just driving around the city she calls “home”, Los Angeles. “One of the articles listed a victim’s address and I knew where he was in Los Angeles,” she says. “And immediately I thought, ‘Oh my God, he was listening to the ocean when he was dying.'” Kendrick called MacDonald, and the pair created a memorable moment around that spot, with the camera pulling back from crashing waves at a tragic crime scene.
The true story it was based on
Rodney Alcala did go on “The Dating Game” – having committed a series of murders (eventually, he was convicted of seven murders in two states and suspected of many more).
Screenwriter McDonald came across the “Dating Game” story on a true crime website and was inspired to write a screenplay. However, it wasn’t the killer that caught his attention. “The context around it was what I found really interesting,” reveals McDonald. “It seemed to represent something that we were kind of struggling with as a country at the time, which is ordinary people turning a blind eye so bad people can get away with bad behavior.”
Alcala had killed his first victim almost a decade before his appearance on the show and continued to commit murders until his arrest the following year, which underscores this idea.
He was eventually arrested and sentenced to death for five murders committed between 1977 and 1979, and later pleaded guilty to two more murders committed in New York. The actual number of his victims, however, remains unknown, with many believing that it may be as high as 130.
Kendrick saw this real-life tragedy as the film’s driving force. “There are so many heroes in this story, but the heroes were few and underpowered by incompetence and negligence, essentially by a culture that didn’t prioritize victims,” he points out.
The film “Woman of the Hour” hopes to re-prioritize these victims, as much as it can. “I’m not really interested in the real Rodney,” Kendrick admits. “I was more interested in trying to depict the kind of experience we are most likely to have.”
Who was Rodney Alcala
Real-life serial killer and sex offender Rodney Alcala was convicted of seven murders in two states: California and New York.
During his trials, prosecutors alleged that Alcala – who worked as a photographer – “played” with his victims, often strangling them until they were unconscious and then waiting until they regained consciousness to repeat the process before kill them. During a trial a police officer called Alcala a “killing machine”.
Alcala was arrested in 1979, and although he was sentenced to death in 1980 and 1986, judges changed their minds twice before he was finally sentenced to death in 2010, due to new evidence that came to light. Died of unspecified natural causes in 2021.
The cast for the “blind date” game was made even though he had already been to prison for molesting minors, according to the Washington Post.
It should be noted that Alcala and Bradhaw never went on a date, as the girl reported to the show’s casting coordinator that the aura she was getting from him was “weird”.
His confirmed victims include Robin Samsoe, Ellen Jane Hover, Cornelia Crilley, Jill Barcomb, Georgia Wixted, Charlotte Lamb and Jill Parenteau. He was also charged with the murder of Christine Ruth Thornton, but the charges were later dropped.
Another key player in the Alcala story is Steven Mack, a homicide detective with the Huntington Beach Police Department in California, who took a leading role in the retrial of Alcala’s twice overturned murder cases. After rummaging through items that previous investigators had discovered decades earlier in a storage locker belonging to Alcala, Mack noticed two rose earrings inside a small red satin bag. Further DNA testing, including samples from Alcala himself, further linked him to Lamb’s murder and the unsolved murders of seven other women in the Los Angeles area, New York and Granger, Wyoming during the 1970s.
His participation in the dating game
Alcala had been murdering for nearly a decade before appearing on “Dating Game” — and reportedly already serving time for child abuse — but it was his run on the show that earned him the moniker “dating game killer.”
With shoulder-length dark hair and wearing a smart brown suit, the easy-going Californian sat with two other contestants behind a wall and told Bachelorette Cheryl Bradshaw: “We’re going to have a great time together, Cheryl.”
During the show, and according to the rules of the game, Bradshaw asked three men questions behind a wall, with the intention of choosing one based on their answers. After all, this was Alcala. She later turned down an opportunity to date him after getting “weird vibes” from him, according to the show’s casting coordinator, as mentioned above.
In the film, Bradshaw takes charge of the situation by asking questions that seem smart and snappy, allowing her to pick up on Alcala’s unpleasant nature in real time. During Alcala’s actual appearance on “The Dating Game” the questions were more standard and his answers were, frankly, creepy.
“I’m serving you dinner. What’s your name and what do you look like?’ Bradshaw asked, according to the outlet. Alcala replied: “My name is banana and I look good.” When he continued, he said, “Peel me.”
Just before they left the show’s set to “get to know each other better”, Alcala had his arm around Cheryl as they looked forward to their date, with the prize including tennis lessons and a visit to Magic Mountain.
But Cheryl said behind the scenes his behavior became more disturbing and she decided not to go with him.
“I started not feeling well. He was acting creepy,” she said. “I turned down his offer. I didn’t want to see him again.”
“Woman of the Hour” will premiere on Netflix on October 18.
