Michael Peterson has more unhappy thoughts on Colin Firth and The Staircase
Peterson, released from prison in 2017, is vocally unhappy with how the HBO Max series depicts his life, and his children
Aux News The Staircase
A week after expressing his unhappiness with HBO Max’s The Staircase—which fictionalizes and dramatizes the death of his wife Kathleen, and his subsequent trial and imprisonment for her murder—Michael Peterson has given a more full interview about his unhappiness with the series (and with the decision to have Colin Firth play him).
This is per Variety, which talked this week with Peterson, currently a free man after submitting an Alford plea (in legal terms, a guilty plea in which the defendant continues to assert their innocence) in 2017 for manslaughter in regards to Kathleen’s death in 2001, after previously having served several years in prison after being convicted in 2003. In the interview, Peterson—who previously criticized documentarian Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (also unhappy with the HBO Max show) for “pimping out” his life story to nu-Staircase showrunner Antonio Campos—expressed his continued unhappiness with the show’s depiction of his kids (despite not having actually seen it).
“I might be a public figure,” Peterson notes up-top, “But my children are not. They are innocent bystanders who years ago helped make a documentary [about me]. So I’m just really annoyed.” When asked if he still would have consented to De Lestrade’s request, to film him and his family while under investigation for his wife’s death 20 years ago—spawning a decent chunk of the true crime genre in the process via the resulting docuseries, also titled The Staircase—Peterson asserts that no one could have known how far it would all go: “Nobody knew how this was going to explode. I would have left it to my kids, as I did leave it to them to decide if they wanted to participate. They all volunteered to say something because they love me. I didn’t understand how hurt they would be by helping me.”
Peterson said he watched about a minute of the show’s trailer before shutting it off, although he expresses his unhappiness with what he’s heard about how Kathleen and his children are portrayed. He also agrees with a question about whether the show’s explanation of his alleged motive for murder—Kathleen discovering that he was bisexual, and having sexual relationships with men during their marriage—was homophobic. (“Creating a false and fictional sexual reason for me to kill her is disgustingly homophobic as well as wrong, as proven in court.”)
And, yes, Peterson weighs in on Firth, who’s mostly garnered strong reviews for his portrayal of the author:
He’s not my favorite actor. Get Brad Pitt! But to be fair, I haven’t seen his portrayal, but I heard he got [my] voice right and [my] mannerisms. But he didn’t capture my energy or my humor. To me, Colin’s a great actor but I can’t think of any roles that weren’t dull as dirt that he’s ever played and that’s fine. I’m not denigrating him, but I would have thought about talking to him. He said he wanted to do it himself — make his own creature, I thought, “What are you talking about? I’m the real person. If you want to know what I think and feel, read my book or talk to me.”
15 Comments
Huh.
Michael Peterson is one of those commenters who has an opinion even though he hasn’t seen the thing. I can’t say it’s surprising.
If you don’t want to have a TV miniseries made about you, maybe don’t murder your wife.
or maybe don’t allow an owl to murder your wifeFTFY
BUT IT WAS THE OWL! THE OWL, I TELL YOU!
he expresses his unhappiness with what he’s heard about how Kathleen and his children are portrayed. Kathleen was portrayed as a great person, actually. Loving mother, hard worker, propped up her husband’s stupid vanity campaigns. And his kids were portrayed as flawed people dealing with awful twin tragedies, but who were also essentially good people. The only person who seemed like an asshole was you, dude. But he didn’t capture my energy or my humor. I’ve seen all 7,000 hours of the documentary and this is just peak Michael Peterson. He thinks he’s being charming and funny when he’s really just being an annoying dickbag, blowing a bunch of hot air and using $5 words where 50 cent ones will do.
Exactly, even when the kids are at their worst its always portrayed as a result of his mediocre parenting or the trauma of losing a loved one and having to go through the trial. I didn’t really think badly of the kids, I just feel bad for them. And the show actually made Kathleen a fully realized person (even if it’s fictionalized) versus I don’t remember the documentary really doing that except showing how her death hurt him.
Yeah if anything Toni Collette’s portrayal is incredibly sympathetic to her. She is the victim after all. She’s supporting not only her husband but his kids as well. I feel exhausted for her whenever I see the flashback scenes.
His whole reaction is, exactly as you said, peak Michael Peterson. Verbose and self-important. Hiding his narcissism behind feigned outrage. I am conflicted overall about the miniseries. I think it is uneven at best and it took some liberties with fictionalizing real people’s stories that I found uncomfortable. This particularly applies to the children, so I think Peterson has a point there. Those kids have been through so much, particularly all three girls, and the miniseries really purported to tell a story of their lives that ran far afield of anything the documentary covered. The story it told about Kathleen at times made her seem like she was losing it and spiraling into addiction, even if it did also show her as put upon by her husband. Peterson is right about one thing—Firth nailed the accent and some of the mannerisms, but didn’t 100% become Michael Peterson for me. But not for the reasons Peterson says. To hear Peterson say it, Firth missed his dashing, debonair charm. But Michael, dude, I’ve watched all 13 hours of that documentary, twice, and let me tell you, it wasn’t the charm he missed. It was the deeply disturbing weirdness, the darkness that always simmered just below the shiny veneer as you watched. The falsity. I don’t imagine any actor out there could fully embody how strange Michael Peterson’s affect is. Because Peterson is a malignant narcissist who thinks he’s charming, and that combination on camera would be hard to do. But I think otherwise the series fully nailed what a corrosive presence he is in the lives of people around him.
Check out Dylan Baker on The Good Wife and Travis Tope on American Vandal Season 2. They’re both doing good Michael Peterson impressions. Tope’s is especially impressive because he impersonates what Michael Peterson would have been like if he was a modern day high school student. (Really into teas!)
This is exactly it. If anything, Colin Firth is too charming and charismatic – he actually lands the notes that Peterson was going for when he speaks, and doesn’t come off as enough of a lizard-person in a man suit.
Unhappiness? “The feeling of not being happy. Sadness.” Does that really describe the sentiments Peterson expressed? Sadness? All the words in the English language to capture Peterson’s opinion and you went with unhappiness? “Hey kids, do you know what happiness is? That’s when your feeling happy. Un-happiness is just the opposite of that – some people call that sadness. Not me though. I say unhappiness because that’s not weird.” If you really wanted to dumb it down why not just say, “Mikey is really sad kids.”
Stfu. You are repulsive. Self hating manipulator who has never stopped lying about who and what you are. Most people would silently take the freedom they don’t deserve and live anonymously, but not you. You truly think people are interested in the things you have to say. Go die somewhere, you freak.
Btw you’re not fooling anyone with your “I haven’t watched it” nonsense. Of course you have. Loads of times.
“Area Man Comments on TV Show He Hasn’t Seen.” I continue to ask, why are you reporting on this?