Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney will produce a documentary about the Dec. 4 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and his accused killer, 26-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate Luigi Mangione, his production company announced less than two weeks after Thompson’s killing.
Oscar winner Alex Gibney will produce the film. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
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Key Takeaways
- The documentary will cover the seemingly “meticulous execution,” Mangione’s alleged manifesto and Ivy League education, as well as the “public’s unapologetic apathy towards the victim,” according to the documentary’s announcement.
- The project, billed as an “investigative deep dive,” will examine “what this killing says about our society and the values we place on who lives and who dies.”
- The film will be co-produced by Gibney’s production company, Jigsaw Productions, and Anonymous Content, though no director is attached yet.
- Gibney previously won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for his 2007 film, “Taxi to the Dark Side,” which focused on American military forces using torture during the War on Terror, particularly the 2002 killing of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar.
Tangent
Social media users speculated in the days following Mangione’s arrest whether he would be the subject of a film or television adaptation, though several media outlets slammed the idea. The Hollywood Reporter writer James Hibberd acknowledged Hollywood’s affinity for adapting true crime, citing Ryan Murphy’s “American Crime Story” anthology series, but warned against treating Mangione as a “mythologized protagonist, somebody whose point of view is inherently sympathetic to some degree.”
Surprising Fact
Another documentary filmmaker, Michael Moore, addressed Mangione in a post on his Substack over the weekend after Mangione reportedly cited Moore’s work in his manifesto. Moore, known for his films highlighting social and political issues, including the healthcare industry in his 2007 Oscar-nominated documentary “Sicko,” said the renewed anger directed toward healthcare companies is “1000% justified.” “Yes, I condemn murder, and that’s why I condemn America’s broken, vile, rapacious, bloodthirsty, unethical, immoral health care industry,” Moore said.
Key Background
Thompson was shot and killed in Manhattan on the morning of Dec. 4, prompting a days-long manhunt for his killer. Mangione was arrested five days later after being spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He remains in custody in a Pennsylvania state prison and is awaiting extradition to New York, where he faces charges of second-degree murder, three gun charges and forgery. New York lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo, former Manhattan chief assistant district attorney, is representing Mangione. Thompson’s killing and Mangione’s arrest sparked an array of reactions on social media, including support for Mangione from some who have cast him as a martyr against the healthcare industry and raised $100,000 for his defense fund.
