23 Films Linked To Real-Life Murder Cases

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Probably one of the wildest behind-the-scenes facts I know is that Curb Your Enthusiasm literally saved a man accused of murder, possibly even from the death penalty. The man, Juan Catalan, was accused of murdering teenager Martha Puebla in 2003. He said he was at the Dodgers game with his daughter and his friends when the murder occurred, but there wasn't enough proof of this...until Catalan's lawyer discovered Curb Your Enthusiasm had filmed at that very same game. Raking through the footage, they were able to find Catalan at the game and back up his alibi.
Similarly, the infamous O.J. trial almost used footage from O.J.'s recent TV pilot, Frogman, which was never released following the murder accusations. Why was the footage relevant? It showed O.J.'s proficiency with a knife. Simpson had reportedly received military training for the role. Also, Simpson's costar Todd Allen had once gone with O.J. to Ross Cutlery — the suspected source of the murder weapon, which was never found — between shooting scenes. Eerily, the show also featured the death of the character's ex-wife.
The footage did not end up being used in O.J.'s trial, in which he was acquitted of murder.
The Exorcist features a real murderer and possible serial killer. Director William Friedkin went to an NYU radiology lab to scout locations and extras, and to observe an angiogram that would inspire a similar scene in the film. While at the lab, he met the technician Paul Bateson and decided to cast him as a technician in the movie as well. Bateson was later convicted of the murder of film critic Addison Verrill and is suspected of multiple other murders.
There was evidence connecting him to the murder of six other men, though the judge in the case decided it was not enough, and he was convicted only of Verrill's murder.
The Godfather cast Gianni Russo after he helped smooth tensions between mob boss Joe Colombo and the film's producers. Russo had grown up adjacent to the mob and knew many mob bosses, including Frank Costello, lending authenticity to the film, which jump-started a long acting career for Russo. The film actually saved his life at one point; Russo owned a casino and got into an altercation with a customer, which led to Russo killing him in self-defense. It was ruled a justifiable homicide, but Russo wasn't off the hook — the man he'd killed was a cartel member. According to Russo, a hit was put out on him, but he was spared because Pablo Escobar liked The Godfather.
The Sopranos cast several men with mob ties, including Michael Squicciarini. After his death, Squicciarini was accused of being involved in the murder of drug dealer Ralph Hernandez. It was claimed that he had lured Hernandez to a club so that he could be shot by a member of a crime family he was associated with. Squicciarin was only implicated after witnesses noticed him on the show and recognized him from the night of the murder.
Goodfellas also gained authenticity for casting Louis Eppolito, who had grown up around the mob but became a cop. However, he was later infamously convicted of being a mob assassin (Eppolito still claimed he was innocent until his death). He was also in the films Predator 2 and Lost Highway.
Speaking of Lost Highway...Eppolito wasn't the only suspected murderer in the film. The film, which is about a man being accused and jailed for murdering his wife, also starred Robert Blake. Blake was later arrested for the murder of his wife, who was shot while sitting in their car during a dinner date. It was alleged that Blake had hired two stunt performers to kill her, though the jury did not believe the stunt performers, who were abusing drugs. Blake was acquitted, though he was later held liable for her death in a civil case.
Back to The Exorcist...the Zodiac killer was a big fan of the film. He actually mentioned it in one of his letters, calling it, "the best saterical comidy (sic) that I have ever seen."
The famous killer would later inspire the film's screenwriter to write what would eventually become The Exorcist III. Jeffrey Dahmer was a fan of this film and even showed it to one of his would-be victims, Tracy Edwards, who escaped being murdered by Dahmer.
Danny Rolling, the Gainesville Ripper, was also influenced by The Exorcist III and the book that inspired it, Legion, which featured the Gemini killer. The murderer claimed his alternate personas, Gemini and Ynnad (Danny backwards), were responsible for his crimes. The backwards spelling of Danny appeared to be a reference to the possessed speaking backwards in the film.
While we're on the subject of killers inspired by films, we have to mention John Hinckley Jr., who tried to assassinate then–President Ronald Reagan to impress Jodie Foster, whom he had become obsessed with after seeing her in Taxi Driver.
A handyman allegedly obsessed with Psycho reportedly set out to murder Marli Renfro, the woman who acted as Janet Leigh's body double in the notorious shower scene, but killed the wrong person by accident. His victim, it turns out, was Myra Davis (who also went by her stage name Myra Jones), who was Leigh's stand-in for lighting and staging, but not the double seen on screen in the shower scene (though her hand is seen briefly).
Natalie Wood, who starred in a number of films including West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause, and Gypsy, died under extremely mysterious circumstances while filming Brainstorm.
Wood, who was 43 at the time, was with her husband Robert Wagner on his boat on a weekend vacation. According to Wagner himself (though he initially denied this), he and Wood argued, and then he went to bed without her. The next morning, she was found drowned a mile away.
Wood had been drinking, and it's possible her death was an accident, but she was found with bruises that could mean she was attacked. Nearby witnesses had heard a woman scream. The captain of the boat, Dennis Davern, allegedly drunkenly confessed to Wood's sister years later that he'd seen Wagner push Wood, who then fell overboard, and that Wagner refused to rescue her...though this is unconfirmed.
We'll likely never know exactly what happened...though one person might: Brainstorm costar Christopher Walken, who was also there that night, and had reportedly also argued with Wagner.
Jean Spangler was just starting to gain headway in Hollywood when she disappeared at 27, leaving behind a note that read, "Kirk, Can't wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away." Kirk apparently referred to someone Spangler had met on set, according to her mother. Police speculated that Kirk might refer to the famous actor Kirk Douglas, whom she had recently worked with on Young Man with a Horn. Douglas was in Palm Springs at the time, and told police he barely remembered Spangler.
"I told Detective Chief Thad Brown that I didn't remember the girl or the name until a friend recalled it was she who worked as an extra in a scene with me in my picture Young Man With a Horn," Douglas said. "Then I recalled that she was a tall girl in a green dress and that I talked and kidded with her a bit on the set, as I have done with many other people. But I never saw her before or after that and have never been out with her." Spangler's disappearance has never been solved, and Young Man with a Horn was one of her final films.
Shelley Malil, perhaps best known for costarring as Haziz in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, was later imprisoned for stabbing his ex-girlfriend 23 times in front of a friend while her children slept upstairs. She survived, and he was released after eight years, against the wishes of his victims. He blamed his actions in part on a lack of roles following The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
Actor Johnny Lewis — who had once dated Katy Perry and is allegedly the person "The One That Got Away" is about — murdered his landlady, killed her cat, then attacked a house painter and his neighbor (who were able to escape), before dying from what was ruled an accidental fall in 2012. Ironically, Lewis had left Sons of Anarchy years prior because it was too "violent." In the years since, he had played a serial killer on Criminal Minds and starred in the horror film Lovely Molly.
The murder came shortly after Lewis moved back into the Writer's Villa, a Los Angeles home where a woman had rented out rooms to young creatives for decades. Lewis had been going through a personality change following a motorcycle accident, which many family and friends believed contributed to his violent outbursts, which came on suddenly and seemed to get worse after stints in jail.
Serial killer Clifton Bloomfield appeared as an extra on shows like Breaking Bad and Felon, basically mid–killing sprees. For example, he was hired on Felon after serving time as a convicted killer, and a month later, went on to kill three more people before being caught and imprisoned again. According to the casting director, no one on set even knew or was told that Bloomfield was a convicted killer.
Tara Correa-McMullen, an up-and-coming actor who appeared on shows like Zoey 101, died in a gang-related potential drive-by shooting at age 16 in 2005. Friends said that she had recently been hanging out with a "bad crowd" but had been trying to get her life back on track.
Eerily, Correa-McMullen was best known for playing a former gang member on Judging Amy. Her character was trying to turn her life around after involvement in a drive-by shooting, but ultimately failed and was killed in jail.
In another creepy coincidence, Judith Eva Barsi, the child actor who most famously voiced Ducky in Land Before Time, played a child murdered by her father in Fatal Vision. She was later murdered by her father at the age of 10. He also murdered his wife, Judith's mother, before killing himself.
Imagine going on a dating show to meet the love of your life and meeting a killer instead. That's exactly what happened on the popular game show The Dating Game. Contestant Rodney Alcala actually won his episode (though he ended up being rejected for a date). It was later revealed that Alcala was a serial killer who would end up being convicted of seven murders...and suspected of many more.
A contestant on Megan Wants a Millionaire and I Love Money 3, Ryan Jenkins, also later turned out to be a killer — in fact, just after the latter show finished filming, his wife's dead body was found. It was soon discovered he had a history of assault, which apparently his background check hadn't uncovered.
This didn't actually involve murder, but it's a wild behind-the-scenes fact involving a murder trial. Cannibal Holocaust was so horrifically violent and offensive that in Italy, director Ruggero Deodato was charged with obscenity and later murder after it was suspected that some of the actors had actually died in the film. The actors literally had to come to court to prove they were alive.
Deodato was also charged with animal cruelty (though it was later overturned) because multiple animals had been killed onscreen.
And finally, we can't make this post without mentioning the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust. Alec Baldwin was using a gun as a prop when it went off and killed Hutchins. The gun had been declared safe before using, and Baldwin reportedly did not know it was loaded — he also denied pulling the trigger, though the FBI reported the gun could not have fired without the trigger being pulled.
Baldwin was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter, but the charges were later dismissed. First AD David Halls was sentenced to probation, and armorer Gutierrez-Reed was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Filming eventually resumed, and the film was quietly released last month.