devilsknot-posterMay 5, 1993. West Memphis, Arkansas. Three young boys playing in the woods never come home for dinner. In the rush to find and convict the killers, police focus on a trio of teenagers suspected of devil worship. As the mother of one of the murdered boys, Pam Hobbs (Reese Witherspoon) tries to come to grips with this unspeakable tragedy, she is desperate to believe that the killers have been found and will be brought to justice.  It is only when an investigator, Ron Lax (Colin Firth), reveals that the evidence doesn’t add up, that the community is forced to face the reality that the true killer might still be out there. In addition to Oscar winners Witherspoon and Firth, Atom Egoyan’s gripping film features Amy Ryan, Dane DeHaan, Bruce Greenwood, Mireille Enos, Steven Moyer and Alessandro Nivola.

When the West Memphis Three (Damian Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin) were released from prison after almost 20 years, Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) was inspired to make a film about the tragic murder of the  young boys in West Memphis and the subsequent wrongful conviction of the three teenagers. The troubling case has been the subject of several documentaries and books. Paul Harris Boardman and Scott Derrickson’s screenplay for this film was based on Mara Leveritt’s best-selling true crime book, Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. I spoke to director Atom Egoyan and Jason Baldwin.

Danny Miller: Several documentaries have already been made about this case. What compelled you to want to revisit the story in a feature film?

atomegoyanAtom Egoyan: That’s a good question — there were a number of issues. First of all, I felt that as persuasive as the documentaries are, they all point toward a possible suspect — different suspects depending on what film you’re watching. I don’t think that any of those suspects are necessarily the answer, it could be just another witch hunt. I also felt that there were also a lot of avenues that the documentaries didn’t touch on. In this film we’re showing a lot of different theories and possible scenarios that are part of the overall picture.

Jason BaldwinJason Baldwin: It’s also about reaching a larger audience. There’s only so many people who pay attention to documentaries or read crime books. This case has not been solved yet and there’s someone out there who actually committed these crimes. So this film is saying to the person, “The state of Arkansas may say the case is closed but in reality, there is no statute of limitations for murder. People know that this has not been solved and they are looking for you. The case is far from over.”

Were there other things about this case that especially interested you? 

Atom Egoyan: This is an unusual piece of history that is subject to a lot of different interpretations. My particular take on it is that it was a study of how people live with extreme doubt in the midst of unspeakable horror. These three young boys were found in a swamp naked, bound by their own shoelaces, sexually mutilated and without any evidence around them — no blood, no DNA, no footprints. And this happens in the Deep South, in a place that’s very steeped in religion, so people believe that it is an act of evil committed by demons.  The police were under a tremendous pressure and if they couldn’t find the demons, then they had to create them. We understand that part of the story through the documentaries, but what I found fascinating was these two characters that emerge. This mother of one of the boys, Pam Hobbs, has every reason to believe that the killers have been found and that she can begin her process of grieving, but she starts to question and doubt what she sees in front of her. She begins to understand that something is deeply amiss. And then you have the character of Ron Lax, a very successful private investigator who’s working pro-bono, and he, too, begins to see that this case was completely skewed and that that these kids are actually innocent but there’s nothing he can actually do about it. I wanted to situate the story in that context — it’s about people who deal with doubt, about people who have the intuitive sense to question deep-rooted assumptions and stand up to this kind of frenzy.

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It is interesting how each documentary seems to focus on a different suspect. Jason, do you have your own thoughts about who you think committed the crime? Is that something that you’ve ever discussed publicly?

Jason Baldwin: No. When the finger of suspicion is pointed at someone, you can’t even understand what that does. I remember as a kid catching a glimpse of the news when they show a mug shot with the word “suspect” and you just think “Okay, that’s the person who did it.” It’s an automatic reaction even if you know nothing about the case. So after having been accused of something I didn’t do and experiencing how it’s nearly impossible to get past that in people’s minds, I definitely don’t want to do that to anyone else. I’m not going to point that finger, but at the same time, I know someone committed this crime so I want an investigation that is free of corruption and bullying tactics. I just want to get to the truth.

Atom Egoyan: To be honest, I do have a thought about who I think committed this crime. It came to me while we were shooting the film and it’s not even touched on in the film. But it’s just a thought so there’s obviously no point in discussing it since it has no more substance than anything else that’s been presented. It’s sad that 20 years later, we’re no closer to solving this case.

Jason, how involved were you in the actual production of the film?

Jason Baldwin: Quite a bit, actually. I went over the script and made sure it was accurate to what I knew had happened and what I had experienced. I was go glad they were so open to making it as factually accurate as possible. I ended up going to Georgia and spending time on the set with the actors and with Pam Hobbs.

It must have been odd seeing an actor playing you as a young man.

Yeah. Seth Meriwether is 16 and an amazing actor. I remember when I was 16, I had a very different path laid out ahead of me but Seth has this bright future ahead of him. It just makes my heart so happy to see that. He was so passionate about doing justice to the role. I think whenever you get a job, you want to do your best but there was something very special about this film. Everyone involved really cared about the story and the people involved.

I understand that Damian Echols was not in favor of the film and that led to some problems between the two of you?

You know, he’s traumatized — he’s still grieving and hurt, too. I don’t want to put any words in his mouth but we’re now in a better place and we text each other from time to time. He’s moving on with his life in different directions and trying to find his place in the world and I think he’s doing a wonderful, amazing job at it. I’m just so proud of him and I try to show support in all his endeavors to just try and put himself back together. It’s not easy.

Atom Egoyan: I think Damian has his own story to tell. He wrote a book about his perspective and what happened to him in prison and afterwards. I think he just wants to tell his story. He did have some concerns about the first draft of the script for this film. We listened to all of his concerns and addressed them. I think we’re portraying him in a really fair way. I don’t know if he’s seen the film, though.

hobbs_witherspoon2I’m amazed that Pam Hobbs was able to spend time on the set. I would have thought that it might be too traumatic for her to relive all of that.

She was great. We spent a lot of time with her. She continues to live with this experience every day and I think she appreciated the care we were putting into the story. She wrote a beautiful letter to Reese saying what her performance meant to her and how improbable it was that she was being portrayed by a Hollywood star.

Jason Baldwin: To see the way Pam Hobbs was embraced by Reese Witherspoon moved me so much. To show her that her son won’t be forgotten and to just hug her and pour all this love into her, I could see that she was healed by it. You just don’t know what grief does to people and she’d been hurting for so long. To see Pam so cared for by everybody on that set — my words can’t even do it justice. My heart just swelled.

Devil’s Knot is playing in theaters in select cities and is available on VOD.