I went through a real serial-killer kick several years ago. Fascinated by the subject and the fact that these monsters had almost celebrity-like status, I read up on a ton of these bad boys and predominantly focussed on the more ‘popular’ killers. (Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, Ed Gein, Albert Fish, and of course – John Wayne Gacy.
One book that proved to be one of the most fascinating reads was Jason Moss’ ‘The Last Victim’. Jason Moss was a college student who became obsessed with notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy. He began corresponding with Gacy in 1994, the last year of the killer’s life. Moss eventually met Gacy on Death Row and even narrowly escaped an attack by him.
This book is now coming to our screens as ‘Dear Mr. Gacy’. Prodcued by ‘Monster’ producer Clark Peterson and starring William Forsythe as Gacy, while Jesse Moss, who stars in Paramount’s current release The Uninvited, will play the role of Jason Moss.
“I’m always pretty big into research, particularly a character like Mr. Gacy,” Forsythe says.
Gacy was convicted in 1980 of killing 33 boys and young men, many of whom he buried in the crawlspace under his house. He was executed in 1994, and the movie tells the story of American college student Jason Moss (played by Vancouver actor Jesse Moss), who struck up a correspondence with the killer and eventually visited him in prison.
“It’s important to me to take the walk, to actually go on the journey from childhood, to see and understand what it is that (makes) a person,” says Forsythe. “Sometimes it’s physical. I remember when I played Al Capone (on the TV series The Untouchables) I did the same thing. I found myself going to the place where he grew up and I would take the walk. Suddenly I would discover, wow, halfway beteween here and his school was where all the gangsters hung out. When he was 11 he saw that along the way.
“I did a similar journey here, I got to know quite a few people who knew John from various angles. One gentlemen in particular has been an amazing resource to me, to really understand the other side of John, which apparently was as real as the horrible side. What I discovered was that everyone liked John, he was one of the most personable — he was the life of the party. The gentleman that I got to meet knew him as a child, he was his best friend from the when they were about nine or 10 all the way through. His name was Barry Boschelli, a tremendous help in showing me the other side of John. That makes it even more monstrous in a way.
Director Svetozar Ristovski (Mirage) will make his English-language debut with the feature, directing from a script by Kellie Madison. Gordon Yang is also producing, while Tom Berry and Madison are exec producing.
Living at home with his parents in suburbia, attending college and dating his girlfriend, Jason lives a seemingly normal life. An overachiever, he’s always looking for a challenge and some new way to excel. As part of a school assignment, he sends a carefully crafted letter to John Gacy in prison, portraying himself as a vulnerable kid. Gacy, suspicious at first, puts Moss through harrowing emotional tests via phone and letters, before surrendering his trust to him. What follows is a twisted psychological game of cat and mouse between two master manipulators, in which Jason’s life is turned upside down and Gacy discovers new dimensions within himself. When Gacy invites Jason for a private meeting with him in prison, Jason accepts, but the boy could never have imagined what was about to take place behind the doors of a maximum security prison.
Sadly in 2006 however Moss committed suicide after he had gained a somewhat celebrity status. The book that he wrote was often described as a real life ‘Silence of the Lambs’.
Vox Populi