On the night of March 23rd 2015, Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn were drugged and bound by a mystery assailant who had broken into their home. Subscribe for more from Factual America: bit.ly/AlamoPictures
Denise was then kidnapped. When Aaron called the police the next day, they believed he had murdered her. Two days later, however, Denise - who had been sexually assaulted by her kidnapper - was freed. Now the police believed no crime had been committed at all, and that Aaron and Denise were hoaxers. The psychological thriller Gone Girl had been released just six months before.
In American Nightmare, co-directors Bernadette Higgins and Felicity Morris explore both what happened and, as host Matthew Sherwood puts it, ‘the consequences of our cultural rush to judgement and the damage done when law enforcement and the media decide the truth can’t possibly be true’.
The result is a three-part series that twists and turns and upends your expectations with every passing minute. In American Nightmare, light becomes dark, and dark turns into light.
On this episode of Factual America, Bernadette and Felicity guide Matthew through Denise and Aaron’s story as well as the making of their series. Among the topics they discuss are how the unfair treatment of women who are victims of sexual crime motivated them to make American Nightmare, the true crime documentary that inspired and shaped the series, the extensive research that went into the making of it, and how American Nightmare offers the opportunity to get viewers to ask questions of themselves and others about how they treat other people.
They discuss the betrayal of trust, self-doubt, and even out-of-body experiences that Denise and Aaron went through. Perhaps most surprising of all, however, is the point of connection that they find between American Nightmare and Pamela: A Love Story, the 2023 documentary about Pamela Anderson.
“This happened, and it happens a lot, and if it can happen to Denise and Aaron, it can happen to anyone.” - Bernadette Higgins
What is Covered:
00:00 - Trailer for An American Nightmare
02:10 - Matthew Sherwood introduces this episode’s guests, Felicity Morris and Bernadette Higgins, and their docu-series, An American Nightmare
04:30 - Felicity explains what An American Nightmare is about
06:35 - How Felicity and Bernadette found inspiration in American Murder: The Family Next Door
09:51 - How Felicity and Bernadette obtained the police footage used in An American Nightmare through Aaron Quinn
10:59 - American police interrogation and the Reid Technique
12:22 - How Denise Huskins became the ‘Gone Girl’
13:54 - How Felicity and Bernadette’s preparation for making An American Nightmare prevented any surprises in the making of it
17:56 - How Felicity and Bernadette got involved with An American Nightmare
21:20 - Why Denise Huskin’s co-operated in the making of the docu-series
24:25 - Learning lessons from what happened to Denise and Aaron
28:50 - Discussing Unbelievable: a scripted version of Denise and Aaron’s story
30:22 - What next for Denise and Bernadette
31:11 - The secret underpinning to Denise and Bernadette’s work
32:27 - Discussing which films Denise and Bernadette enjoyed in 2023
Resources:
American Nightmare: www.netflix.com/title/81620852
MovieMaker Magazine www.moviemaker.com/
Innersound Audio www.innersoundaudio.co.uk/
Connect with Bernadette Higgins
IMDb www.imdb.com/name/nm9931273/
Instagram: / bernadetteberniehiggins
Connect with Felicity Morris
IMDb www.imdb.com/name/nm3220744/
X: / fliss_morris
▬▬ FACTUAL AMERICA PODCAST ▬▬
Factual America uses documentary filmmaking to examine the American experience as well as universal topics that affect all Americans. Guests include leading documentary filmmakers, their subjects, as well as experts on the American experience.
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