The Staircase Filmmakers Feel “Betrayed” by HBO Max’s Adaptation

What separates Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s The Staircase from other crime documentaries is its astonishing access. While chronicling the defense strategy of Michael Peterson, the novelist who was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen, in 2001, de Lestrade’s cameras recorded strategy meetings inside Peterson’s Durham, North Carolina, home—the same home where Kathleen was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs. De Lestrade, an Academy Award–winning documentarian, had to agree to the terms of Peterson’s defense attorney, David Rudolf—among them, that footage would be sent to France each night before it could be subpoenaed by prosecution. But the caveats… Read Full Article