Netflix's Woman of the Hour writer explains why real story of Rodney Alcala 'didn't interest' him

Netflix film Woman of the Hour stars Anna Kendrick as the bachelorette who picks a serial killer for a date but the film wasn't interested in getting every detail of the true story as it happened

*This article contains minor spoilers for Woman of the Hour*

True crime fans are engrossed in the real-life tale of serial killer Rodney Alcala, which is partly retold in new Netflix film Woman of the Hour.

The movie, which was released just last week and stars Anna Kendrick who also served as director, depicts how Alcala earned his nickname as the Dating Game Killer. This was largely due to his notorious appearance on a US game show while he was, unbeknownst to viewers and the show's producers, in the midst of a murder spree.

While he committed horrific crimes and even featured on the FBI's most wanted list prior to his television appearance, the scriptwriter of the new film has disclosed that the intricate details of the true story 'didn't interest' them.

While the film recounts parts of Alcala's life and numerous crimes, he was merely an initial inspiration for the creative team behind the project rather than the main focus, reports the Mirror.

Many true crime biopics may trace the criminal's origins, speculate on their motives, and even depict their journey to justice, but the beginning and end of Woman of the Hour remain ambiguous. Instead, it concentrates more on the world surrounding Alcala, portrayed chillingly by Daniel Zovatto, particularly the women he encounters.

In a conversation with Tudum, screenwriter Ian McDonald confessed that he used Alcala as a starting point to delve into what he perceives as a societal issue.

He commented: "He (Alcala) wasn't the thing that interested me. The context around him was the thing that I found really interesting. He seemed to represent something that we were kind of wrestling with as a country at the time, which is ordinary people looking the other way so that bad people could get away with bad behaviour."

The chilling narrative unfolds in a scene where Alcala is recognised during the filming of the Dating Game. In a dramatic moment- albeit a completely fictitious one - a friend of one of his victims bolts from the set, later seen desperately attempting to alert a police officer to the identity of the murderer.

This imagined event, according to McDonald, contributes to important commentary embedded in the film.

Further examining this sinister aspect of human nature, he added: "Rodney Alcala really seems to have flouted a lot of his worst tendencies. And so it wasn't that he was being sneaky, it's that other people were... actively looking the other way."

Kendrick concurs, saying: "Laura really functions as kind of a representation of all the people that tried to raise the alarm and were ignored. There are so many heroes in this story, but the heroes were outnumbered and outgunned by incompetence and negligence and a culture that did not prioritize victims."

To drive the point home in terms of making part of the true story relatable to contemporary viewers, McDonald highlighted their creative approach: "He's charming by 1978 standards, but 2024 audiences would watch that and be like, 'He's a serial killer'.

"We wanted to make sure that modern audiences basically got to experience the same kind of emotional journey that Sheryl did, so we fictionalized his dialogue in service of pairing it a little bit more with modern sensibilities."

Woman of the Hour is available to stream on Netflix now