A second high-profile documentary is in the works about UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect Luigi Mangione.
Two-time Emmy nominee Stephen Robert Morse, who produced Netflix documentary “Amanda Knox” and also directed “How to Rob a Bank” for the streamer — a true-crime documentary about prolific bank robber Scott Scurlock – is turning his attention to Mangione, who last week was apprehended by police in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Earlier today Anonymous Content and Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Prods confirmed they are also pursuing a separate documentary project about the case.
Morse’s doc is set to explore the various perspectives of those embroiled in the murder and its aftermath, including the victims, their families and Mangione himself, as well as the moral complexities thrown up by Thompson’s murder. Alongside the case the documentary will provide historical context around one of America’s most pressing – and polarizing – issues, that of privatized health insurance.
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“This case is complex and raises important questions about vigilantism, the devastating cost of a privatized healthcare system and the inevitability of violence when peaceful change is seen as impossible,” said Morse. “My goal is to present a balanced exploration of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s assassination, showing all sides of the story while respecting the profound loss of life and its impact on everyone involved.”
“Every story is multidimensional, and I believe in treating all participants with kindness and fairness. This approach has always been central to my projects,” he added.
Joining Morse, founder of production company Morse Code Group, on the doc are director of photography Matt Cianfrani (“United Shades of America”), investigative journalist Hannah Ghorashi and filmmaker Eli Eisenstein, a contemporary of Mangione’s at the University of Pennsylvania.
Thompson was shot on the street in Manhattan earlier this month on Dec. 4, sparking both a renewed public discourse about health insurance and a nationwide manhunt for the suspect, who was controversially embraced in some quarters as a Robin Hood figure.
A lone image of the suspect in a hostel before the killing – which showed him to be young with a dazzling smile – followed by 26-year-old Mangione’s arrest in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s five days later resulted in a wave of social media memes, largely supportive of Mangione, as well as numerous crowdfunding initiatives.
Mangione, who has retained Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a high-powered New York attorney to defend him, currently remains in custody at a state prison in Pennsylvania.