The Staircase: Unraveling Michael Peterson’s Real-Life Relationship With the Docuseries Filmmakers

HBO Max’s adaptation of The Staircase introduces two very meta characters in the second episode: French filmmakers Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Vincent Vermignon) and Denis Poncet (Frank Feys). In real life, it was de Lestrade and Poncet who first sniffed out the dramatic potential of Michael Peterson’s murder trial in Durham, North Carolina. They embedded themselves with Peterson for about two years and created 2004’s original The Staircase, one of the first and all-time-great true-crime docuseries. With it, they also indelibly shaped how the world still sees Peterson even two decades after he was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen. (Michael… Read Full Article