EXCLUSIVE: Face/Off and Hacksaw Ridge producer David Permut has acquired Steve Lillbuen’s true crime book The Devil’s Cinema about Canadian filmmaker Mark Twitchell who was convicted of first degree murder in 2011.
Twitchell is serving a life sentence for the murder of John Brian Altinger, whom he lured into a “kill room” set up in his garage-turned-film-studio. Twitchell bludgeoned and stabbed Altinger, before cutting him apart and then dumping his remains in garbage bags. His arrest and trial attracted substantial media attention since his crimes were inspired by TV series Dexter and lead character Dexter Morgan, prompting some outlets to refer to Twitchell as the “Dexter Killer”.
The shocking story will be featured this month on an upcoming episode of CBS’s true crime series 48 Hours.
Brit filmmaker Sam Hobkinson, whose credits include true-crime doc Kleptocrats, Netflix factual feature Misha And The Wolves and the same streamer’s mob series Fear City, has been signed to write and direct the narrative feature.
Permut will produce through his Permut Presentations banner along with director of development Alex Astrachan who will co-produce. Keenan Porterfield, who brought the project to Permut, will also produce.
Permut told us: “Sam Hobkinson’s interpretations of true crime stories have had such cinematic flair and style in his extraordinary and critically acclaimed work in documentaries. I think we have found the perfect filmmaker to capture this riveting and cinematic story.”
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