HBO's new serial killer docuseries 'Last Call' re-examines New York City’s yearslong search for a murderer who targeted gay men in the early 1990s.
“Being able to tell the story in a documentary format would allow us to get to the heart of the nature of anti-queer violence and also the response to anti-queer violence,” executive producer Howard Gertler said in a joint interview with Caronna. “It seemed like an opportunity to tell a historical story that has resonance both in terms of where this violence comes from and how to respond to it, at a time when we need to hear it most.
Gertler, best known for producing the Oscar-nominated documentaries “How to Survive a Plague” and “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” said the work of the show was to go beyond the “who, what, where and when” laid out in Green's book and to examine the “how” and the “why” behind the killings and the protracted police investigation.
The docuseries even delves into Rogers’ run-ins with the law before the 1990s. In 1973, while he was attending the University of Maine as a graduate student, he stood trial in the murder of his roommate, Frederick Spencer, with a hammer. He claimed self-defense and was acquitted. In August 1988, a 47-year-old Manhattan man told police that Rogers had drugged and attacked him. Rogers was acquitted in a nonjury trial a few months later.
Gertler said one of the big themes of “Last Call” is “the way that institutionalized homophobia and transphobia works, and that was one of the most horrifying things [they discovered] when we were doing our own digging and reporting into the circumstances around the 1973 murder and trial and the 1988 assault and trial.”
Confronted with the ethical dilemma of not wanting to retraumatize the people who lived through that era while not pulling any punches in their reporting, the producers said they felt it was important to be upfront about their intentions and to let their subjects control the flow of the interviews, especially because many of them have seldom sat down to discuss their advocacy work or their memories of their loved ones.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
A New Decade, A New Album, A New Life—Olivia Rodrigo’s Next ChapterWith a new album coming this fall, Olivia Rodrigo is poised to reignite her global superstardom. But that's not what's on Rodrigo’s mind right now. “Somehow, all of that totally pales in comparison to turning 20,” she says.
Read more »
‘Last Call’ Is About a Murderer—and, More Importantly, His Gay VictimsBased on Elon Green’s novel of the same name, ‘Last Call’ illuminates a largely ignored true crime story from New York’s gay scene in the early 1990s.
Read more »
Climate change making wildfires, smoke worse, Scientists call it the 'new abnormal'It was a smell that invoked a memory. Both for Emily Kuchlbauer in North Carolina and Ryan Bomba in Chicago. It was smoke from wildfires, the odor of an increasingly hot and occasionally on-fire world.
Read more »
Heat-related deaths in New York City soar in the last decade, report saysAnnual heat-related deaths in New York City have climbed over the past decade — along with roiling summer temperatures — according to report by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Read more »
Chicago Cubs meet New York Yankees in last series before breakAs the Chicago Cubs headed to the Bronx for a chance to beat old pal Anthony Rizzo, Marcus Stroman pulled out of the All-Star Game and Dansby Swanson might do the same.
Read more »
Former Rep. Mondaire Jones announces new election bid in New York | CNN PoliticsFormer Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones announced Wednesday that he is running for Congress in New York’s 17th District, the seat he previously represented before redistricting thwarted his reelection plans last year.
Read more »