The Capture of the Green River Killer – trailer by lisamdixon2002
THE SCENE:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY
(The interview takes place over many days. Sometimes Gary sits, lies on the floor, paces, eats. Likewise Dave. Dave loses his coat and tie at some point. THE CUTS ARE ABRUPT, THE SHOTS HAND-HELD, CANDID. We begin with Dave studying Gary, and then stating:)
DAVE: How’d you get away with it?
(Gary thinks, shrugs:)
GARY: It was easy. My appearance was different from what I really was.
CUT TO:
GARY: Prostitutes were the, the easiest. I went from uh, havin’ sex with ‘em to just plain killing ‘em. The sight of ‘em, for me, was like candy in a dish.
CUT TO:
GARY: They’re trash, they’re just trash.
FLASH TO:
INT. YOUNG GRK’S BATHROOM – DAY: Gary’s Mom scrubs her son’s privates (OFF-SCREEN) while she complains:)
(AS BEFORE)
GARY’S MOM: Someone oughta do that with them.
FLASH BACK TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY
(IN THE PRESENT)
GARY: They didn’t mean anything to me. Once I killed ‘em, I didn’t keep it in memory.
DAVE: You remember your trucks?
GARY (with pride): Oh, yeah, yeah, I had over a hundred one time or another. I can tell you the make, the year, how much I paid for ‘em -
DAVE: But you don’t remember the women?
(Silence – Gary sees Dave’s point, he’s been trapped.)
FLASH TO:
EXT. SEA-TAC STRIP – NIGHT
(The GRK’s pickup truck cruises the Strip. As we watch, THE TRUCK CHANGES COLOR, MAKE, SIZE, DESIGN.)
GARY (O.S.): I’d spend hours cruisin’ the Strip. You know, patrollin’? I slept only a coupla hours a night. It was kinda like my, uh, career.
DAVE (O.S.): Who was the first?
GARY (O.S.): I don’t remember. I thought I killed before the Green River.
I thought I left bodies in the middle of streets, against fences, where I expected ‘em to be found. But they never were.
FLASH BACK TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY: Gary, standing on the riverbank over Opal Mills’s body, spots the Rafter, who waves. Gary waves back. WE’VE SEEN THIS SCENE IN NIGHT ONE FROM THE RAFTER’S POV.)
(IN THE PRESENT)
DAVE: Why did you put rocks in their vaginas?
GARY: I didn’t want nobody to have sex with ‘em. They was my property. When you found ‘em and took ‘em away, it felt like you were takin’ sump’n a’ mine that I put there.
FLASH TO:
EXT. GREEN RIVER (3) – DAY: Gary pins down a body in the river with rocks.)
(1982)
GARY (O.S.): Those ones in the river – I pinned ‘em down cause you already found two of ‘em and I wasn’t gonna to let these other ones get away.
(LATER)
GARY: How’s it goin’?!
(He climbs the bank, leaving Opal’s body in the tall grass.)
GARY (O.S.): But you found ‘em anyway. Made me mad.
FLASH TO:
EXT. WOODS (5) – DAY: Gary places the fish and wine on Carol Christensen’s body.)
(1983)
GARY (O.S.): So I put the trout and stuff on that one to throw you guys off.
(laughing) Your experts said it was like the Last Supper.
FLASH BACK TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY
(IN THE PRESENT)
GARY: I really had everyone fooled.
DAVE: Even the women?
GARY: Especially them. (a beat, then:) I never picked ‘em up at the curb where they were workin’. Too many witnesses.
FLASH TO:
EXT. SEA-TAC STRIP – NIGHT: Gary checks the oil in his truck parked in a lot as pregnant Mary Meehan approaches.)
(AS IN NIGHT ONE)
GARY (O.S.): I waited for them to approach me.
MARY MEEHAN: Hey, could you give me a lift?
FLASH TO:
EXT. SEA-TAC STRIP / INT. PICKUP TRUCK – NIGHT
(1982: The truck drives along the Strip – with Colleen Brockman, the girl with braces on her teeth, in the passenger’s seat. She’s laughing at something he’s said.)
GARY (O.S.): They’d sometimes ask if I was the Green River Killer. “Do I look like the Green River Killer?” I’d say. And then they’d laugh.
FLASH BACK TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY
(IN THE PRESENT:)
GARY: I’d always try to put women at ease. I’d offer beer, a job, a lot of money. If that didn’t work, I’d show them a picture of my son.
FLASH TO:
EXT. WOODS (7) / INT. PICKUP TRUCK – NIGHT: The truck stands alone in the woods.)
(1982)
GARY (O.S.): One night I even took him with me.
(Inside, 8-YEAR-OLD CHASE sits reading a book by the light of the interior lamp. Silence. BUSHES RUSTLE in the woods. Chase looks up from his book.
Silence. Then he hears a sound, almost like a GASP. It frightens him, so after a moment he carefully rolls up the window and turns out the light. On second thought, he locks the truck doors. He waits.Then Gary emerges from the woods alone. Chase unlocks the truck doors. As Gary gets in, he says:)
GARY: That nice lady we picked up? She decided to walk home.
GARY (O.S.):
After that, when I could, I took ‘em to my house.
FLASH TO:
A MONTAGE FROM THE PAST (EARLY ’80′S):
EXT. GARY’S HOME – NIGHT
(Gary’s truck pulls up in front of his very modest one-story, two-bedroom house. ALMA SMITH, 18, gets out of the truck with Gary -)
INT. GARY’S HOME – (DAY FOR) NIGHT
(- and walks through his house, curious. She sees his son’s room, with Chase’s name on the door. She opens the door to look inside -)
GARY: Not in there.
(- and when she closes the door and turns -)
INT. GARY’S HOME – (DAY FOR) NIGHT
(- it is another woman, SANDRA GABBERT, 17, whom Gary leads by the hand toward his bedroom.)
GARY: You wanna use the bathroom first?
(She goes into the hall bathroom, closing the door behind her.)
GARY (O.S.): I always made sure they took care of business beforehand. In case they had an accident – you know.
INT. GARY’S BEDROOM – (DAY FOR) NIGHT
(A NAKED Gary mounts a naked Sandra Gabbert from behind on his bed, doggy-style. They are in shadows, and we focus primarily on Sandra’s lowered head.)
GARY (O.S.): After sex, if I was behind, they always raised their head when they were done. That’s when I got a clear shot.
(When Gary climaxes she raises her head. QUICK CUTS OF HALF-A-DOZEN WOMEN – in the same position as Sandra – raising their heads. The last one is Colleen Brockman, the girl with the braces. As she raises her head Gary grabs her from behind – just as he did his second wife in the woods – nestling her throat in the crook of his arm and pressing his second arm against his wrist for leverage. WE SEE ONLY A FLEETING IMAGE of this, for immediately the CAMERA STARTS TO PAN SLOWLY AROUND THE ROOM, examining Gary’s possessions as if it were a detective. There are photos of his parents, of himself as a boy, of his own son Chase in almost a dozen pictures. There is an old manual typewriter. There are a few books, including a Bible. There are his clothes, lying piled on the floor, along with Colleen’s. THE ENTIRE SHOT IS DONE IN CONTINUOUS ACTION. ALL THE TIME WE HEAR THE SOUNDS OF HER STRUGGLE. THE CAMERA IS IN NO HURRY, AND WE NEVER CUT AWAY – this is death in real time, and it is agonizing. Off-Camera, Gary pleads:)
GARY (O.C.): Don’t fight, don’t fight, I’m gonna let you go. But you gotta stop struggling.
(After a moment THE SOUNDS OF STRUGGLE STOP. Silence, as the CAMERA BEGINS TO CIRCLE BACK TO THE BED. At last we hear the SOUND OF THE DEATH RATTLE. By the time we return to the bed she’s dead. Gary releases his grip and she falls forward onto the mattress.)
GARY (O.S.): I choked ‘em cause it was more personal, more rewardin’.
(Gary gets up from bed, catches his breath, then puts on his pants, his back to the bed. THE CAMERA STAYS WITH HIM – CONTINUOUS ACTION -)
GARY (O.S.): Except sometimes I miscalculated.
(- and when he turns back around – THE CAMERA STILL WITH HIM – Colleen no longer lies on the bed. Gary panics. He runs around the bed, finds her still alive crawling across the floor. He grabs a pair of his socks, knots them, and calmly puts them around her neck, tying them tight.)
GARY (O.S.): Later I tied something around every one, even when I thought they was dead, just to be careful. I really didn’t wanna get caught.
FLASH BACK TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY: Dave is still, trying his best not to let his emotions show. Gary seems near tears:)
(IN THE PRESENT)
GARY: It wasn’t easy. I lived with a heavy heart. It was a terrible burden – getting rid of all those bodies.
FLASH TO:
A MONTAGE FROM THE PAST (EARLY ’80′S):
INT. GARY’S BEDROOM – (DAY FOR) NIGHT
(Gary studies a body on the bed, sighs, spreads out a plastic sheet -)
EXT. GARY’S HOME – NIGHT
(- backs his truck up to the house, unscrews the light by the door -)
INT. GARY’S HOME – (DAY FOR) NIGHT
(- slides the body through the house -)
EXT. GARY’S HOME – NIGHT
(- loads it into his truck, closes the canopy.)
GARY (O.S.): I didn’t keep the clothes. They were rags to me.
EXT. HIGHWAY – NIGHT
(Gary throws a woman’s clothes out a window of his truck as he speeds along a highway.)
INT. KENWORTH MOTOR TRUCK COMPANY – DAY: At least.)
(Gary walks toward a Receptionist’s desk -)
GARY (O.S.): As for the jewelry -
(- checks to see that no one is looking, then leaves a watch by the phone.)
INT. KENWORTH MOTOR TRUCK COMPANY – DAY: He drags the body from the road deeper into the woods.)
(CLOSE ON the RECEPTIONIST’S wrist, wearing the dead woman’s watch, as she waves hello to Gary. He smiles.)
GARY (O.S.): - I loved seeing it on all my friends.
EXT. HIGHWAY / WOODS (7) – NIGHT: Gary drives up the road and parks.)
(Gary pulls a body out of his truck parked at a secluded spot along a highway.)
GARY (O.S.): But disposal was a pain. Waste of time and gas.
(LATER)
GARY (O.S.): If I could have dropped them down a bottomless mine shaft, it would have been so much easier.
CUT TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY: Forty-eight Women Dead. And then, a moment later, A SECOND TITLE APPEARS
(IN THE PRESENT:)
DAVE: Did you have post-mortem intercourse with any of your victims?
GARY: Just with ten or so. It was free. I didn’t have to pay for it.
(Dave is disgusted. He struggles to hide his feelings.)
DAVE: We’ve found over forty bodies, Gary. How many more are out there? Can you take us to them?
(ANGLE ON Gary – he’s not sure.)
CUT TO:
EXT. ROAD (1) – DAY: June 13, 2003. Gary, heavily manacled, leads Dave and Fae and other members of the Task Force to a site off a road – where they uncover a set of bones.)
(TITLE)
CUT TO:
EXT. ROAD (2) – DAY: August 16, 2003. The Task Force digs up another set of bones.)
(TITLE)
CUT TO:
EXT. ROAD (3) – DAY: September 28, 2003. As Detectives dig with shovels, Gary tells Dave:)
(TITLE)
GARY: This is the one that first led you to me.
FLASH TO:
EXT. SEA-TAC STRIP – NIGHT: Ellie Slater walks away from her Boyfriend, waves down a dark pick-up truck, and gets in.)
(AS IN NIGHT ONE)
FLASH TO:
EXT. GARY’S BACK YARD – DAY: As Gary does yardwork, he’s interrupted by Dave and Detective #1.)
(AS IN NIGHT ONE)
DAVE: Excuse me, sir? Are you the owner of the maroon pickup?
GARY: Yes.
GARY (O.S.): I hated her for that. So I put her in a place alone, so she wouldn’t have nobody with her.
FLASH BACK TO:
EXT. ROAD (3) – DAY: The Detectives uncover Ellie’s skull. TITLE
(IN THE PRESENT)
CUT TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY: Dave shows Gary Hel’s photo.)
DAVE: When was your last kill?
GARY: 1985.
CUT TO:
GARY: 1991.
CUT TO:
GARY: 1998. You didn’t pin her on me. That’s okay, I was kinda rusty.
DAVE: How many, Gary? How many women did you kill?
GARY: Seventy-one. I can’t remember ‘em all.
CUT TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY: Gary cries.)
GARY: I’m not a rapist, no. I’m, I’m not a rapist I’m a – I’m a murderer I’m not a rapist. And it wasn’t a hobby. It was my career.
(LATER)
DAVE: If you killed these women back in the ’80′s, why are you crying about it now?
GARY: Well because of how I screwed up. How I screwed up on killing them. Maybe leaving too much, too much – evidence.
(LATER)
DAVE: Do you think there’s something missing in you that other people have?
GARY: Caring. That caring thing.
(LATER)
DAVE: Do you remember this one?
(Gary stares at it, becoming visibly upset.)
GARY: I’m not gonna confess to any woman you wanna pin on me. Not if she isn’t mine. I have pride in – in – what I do, I don’t wanna take it from anybody else.
(Dave puts the photo down.)
DAVE: Is there anything you haven’t told me, Gary, you want to tell me now?
(Silence. Gary is struggling with something. He can’t keep his eye off Hel’s photo. Then he quietly admits:)
GARY: I, uh, experimented once with facing my victim.
FLASH TO:
INT. GARY’S BEDROOM – (DAY FOR) NIGHT: Gary chokes Hel while she is facing him. THIS IS A WIDER ANGLE ON A SCENE WE SAW EARLIER IN EXTREME CLOSE-UP.)
GARY (O.S.): The way she was lookin’ at me and, and beggin’ for her life. That taught me a lesson not ever to choke ‘em with my hands ’cause I didn’t want that part to be memorized in my mind. She’s looking at me and tryin’ to get me to stop. But I couldn’t let go. She’d turn me in and I wouldn’t be able to kill anymore. And that meant a lot to me. To kill.
CUT TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY: Dave levels with Gary, starting very quietly.)
(IN THE PRESENT)
DAVE: We’ve been through a lot together, Gary. We both started on the riverbank, moved on from there. Every life you touched, I touched too. We got a lot in common.
(Gary nods, as if agreeing.)
DAVE: Now I’m a Christian man, I believe in forgiveness, but to be forgiven, Gary, you have to confess. Have you told me everything?
(Gary hesitates, then he nods.)
GARY: Yes.
DAVE (with growing fury): Then let me tell you something I haven’t said before. You disgust me. You do not deserve to be alive. You didn’t just kill those girls – you destroyed the lives of everyone they touched. You’re a coward! You choked ‘em from behind! Sixteen-year-old girls! You got behind ‘em, you choked em!!! YOU’RE AN EVIL, MURDERING, MONSTROUS, COWARDLY MAN!!!
(Dave is standing, leaning over Gary, and Gary is cringing backward in his chair, trying to get as far away from Dave as he can. But he’s cornered, literally – he can’t move. A long moment of silence. Then Gary says quietly:)
GARY: Yeah. I am.
(Dave turns to go, leaving Gary alone. PAN DOWN TO Hel’s photo, lying on a table.)
HEL (V.O.): They never found me. Gary never admitted that he killed me, or where he put me. I’m one of the 23 lost.
CUT TO:
EXT. HEL’S TRAILER HOME – DAY
(Hel’s Trailer stands much as it always has, looking pretty sad.)
HEL (V.O.): But I’ve learned somethin’ too.
(Out of the screen door comes Fiona, Hel’s mother. The years have not been kind. She sits on the steps and opens a can of beer.)
HEL (V.O.): To move someplace, you gotta let go. You gotta say good-bye to people you love, and hate, and don’t want to forgive.
(Inside the trailer, Hel steps up to the screen door and stands, looking down at her mother. Fiona is oblivious.)
HEL (V.O.): But if our lives are like a poem -
EXT. LAKE NEAR WOODS – DAY:
“To Nat, I’ll always love you, Hel.” Her little girl holds a bouquet of peonies.)
(Nat stands on the edge of a lake with her 3-year-old Daughter. Nat holds the book of poems given to her by Hel, the book inscribed
HEL (V.O.): - that when it works comes spillin’ out like it’s meant to be, we can’t forget that poems are somethin’ we make.
(Out of the woods behind them steps Hel, watching them. They do not see her, or sense her presence. She walks toward them -)
HEL (V.O.): And even though we live mostly with randomness and luck, once in a while something good and deliberate happens and it’s not just God, sometimes it’s us responsible too. Dave proved that to me.
(- stopping a few feet behind them.)
HEL (V.O.): I mean if there is Fate, we have to be able to conquer it. We really can be masters of our lives. Against terrible odds we can make things happen.
Nat takes a flower from her Daughter and tosses it into the water.
NAT: Okay, Helen. Your turn.
(The little girl follows suit, throwing the rest of the bouquet into the lake.)
CUT TO:
INT. PRISON INTERROGATION ROOM – DAY
(Just before leaving Gary for the last time, Dave turns back.)
DAVE: On a scale, say, of one to five, five being the worst possible evil person, where would you fall?
GARY: I’d say a three. What about you? If five were the best possible person you could hope to be?
(Dave considers.)
DAVE: A three. I’d be a three.
(Dave leaves Gary alone, shutting the door solidly behind him.)
THE STORY:
This is the story of Detective Dave Reichert’s near-twenty-year search for the notorious Green River Killer, narrated by one of the victims looking back on her troubled life and death and trying to make some sense of it all.
THE BACKSTORY:
Stan Brooks, the producer I’ve worked with more often than with any other and who has been so supportive of me as a writer, sold this piece in about two seconds to ABC. I flew to Seattle and spent some time with Dave Reichert, and wrote the script as an original, doing my own research. (Later, when it was finally produced, it received a “based on” credit; Dave was writing a book at the time I first met with him, and by the time the movie was green-lighted his book had been published and hence the final credit.) ABC soon decided it was no longer in the MOW business, and the project went into limbo-land. A few years later Stan’s office spoke to Lifetime, which had a division devoted to doing low-budget movies. They’d never done a miniseries in that venue, but were up for a try. And so the piece was made on an astoundingly low budget and shot in thirty days. Stan called in some favors and gathered a collection of incredibly talented actors and, under Norma Bailey’s helm as director, ended up with a movie that I am especially proud of.
One reason I am so proud of this piece is the performance given by the actor who plays Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer. Stan had agreed that I could act in the movie (I’d appeared in a small part in Submerged, which I wrote for him) and when he asked me what part I wanted to play I said “Gary Ridgway.” He later told me he was driving at the time and nearly ran into a guardrail. But Stan, being the cool and supportive guy that he is, agreed – and the result brought me back to the thespian field and allowed me once again to fall in love with performing.
The scene I chose to include here is my editing of the lengthy interview Dave had with Gary. The words are verbatim, but I’m pleased with how I edited it, intercutting it with many scenes we’ve seen glimpses of earlier in the movie. Toward the end of the actual interview, Dave asked Gary how bad he thought he was, on a scale of one to five. Gary’s question to Dave, however, is all mine – and I feel it underscores the ordinariness of the lives of these people living out an extraordinary situation.
REVIEWS:
“Beautifully shot, appropriately creepy, chilling and at times heartwarming, ‘The Capture of the Green River Killer’ delivers on all counts.” – Los Angeles Times
Named by Variety as one of the top television events of 2008 (the only movie so honored).