Episode Transcript
Today, we are talking about one of the most infamous crimes that continues to capture the public's imagination, and that is the shooting of Mary Joe Butafuco by an underage girl who was having an affair with her husband.
This crime absolutely dominated the press.
If you are unfamiliar with this case, Mary Joe Butifuco, a stay at home mother of two small kids, opened her front door and was shot in the head at her home in Massa Peak of New York by seventeen year old Amy Fisher, who was having a salacious relationship with Mary Joe's husband, Joey Buttafuco.
Mary Joe sustained severe permanent injuries, including partial facial paralysis and deafness in one ear, and she still to this day has the bullet in her head.
The case exploded nationally, with the press dubbing Amy the Long Island Lolita, and Joey denied the affair for years.
Mary Joe stood by him, a choice that made her a target of public ridicule.
I mean this family and Amy were on the cover of every magazine and newspaper.
There were three TV movies made about the crime, and between one hundred and one hundred and twenty five million people watched at least one of them.
Scandal media had become dominant in mainstream culture at this time, and this story had everything obsession, stalking, a shocking act of violence, and a controversial plea deal that left Mary Joe stunned.
Amy Roboc and TJ.
Speaker 2Holmes present Killer Thriller with your Host Alisa Donovan.
Speaker 1Today we are talking about Mary Joe Buttafuco and her story.
And first I'm going to take you back with my producers here to nineteen ninety two when this all happened.
Speaker 2I think it's interesting right out the gate that we're talking about the Mary Joe Budafuco story, because in nineteen ninety two we all were calling it the.
Speaker 1Amy Fishy Fisher story.
Speaker 3Yep.
Speaker 2So I know we're going to talk today about the Lifetime movie that's coming out.
Tell I know you've seen it.
Tell us about it and why it's different from the two or three versions we knew from the nineties.
Speaker 1Okay, So, first of all, it's pretty extraordinary.
I have to say.
It's the first time that we're hearing Mary Joe's story from her own mouth quite literally.
Some of the film is her speaking directly to camera about her story, and then the other parts are re enactments with actors that drive the narrative.
And I mean, I was I absolutely remember this case.
I grew up thirty minutes from where this happened, so I was living in Manhattan at the time, but I grew up on Long Island right by there, and it just dominated everything.
You not get away from this story.
Speaker 2How did you feel about her Amy Fisher being nicknamed the Long Island Lolita?
What did that do to somebody from Long Island?
Speaker 1Well, first of all, nobody is gonna care.
But I'm a huge Nabokov fan, so I loved the book Lolita, and I felt like, how dare they use this terminology in this regard?
I mean, it's just despicable, is what I felt.
But at the time, I was so young, I wasn't thinking about how she was being exploited in the process while also having made these horrific decisions, obviously, which are inexcusable.
Speaker 2Do you think that that's why this story, this crime is still ever present in our memories because we are her age and it just was flabbergasting that some seventeen year old was dating this old man and then just tried to attack kill his wife.
Speaker 1I mean, I don't know, if I think about it, like the age, I was probably a couple of years older than if it was nine ey, I was probably twenty, but certainly close enough in age.
I think to me, I felt like I know these people's voices.
I know these accents.
I can imagine that guy who runs the shop, runs the autobody place.
I can see this girl, I can see her in that outfit.
I can see the things like I really went, oh my god, I know these people.
It was absolutely crazy.
And the fact that Mary joe you know this is what I think you know looking back now is really upsetting and unbelievable.
Is that the story really became about Amy and Joey, and no one was talking about the woman who was the victim of this heinous crime.
I mean, she opened the front door of her house and opened the door to Amy and thinks, here's this young girl who is not threatening, and then the girl shoots her in the head.
It's completely crazy.
One of the reasons for that.
Speaker 2Is that in the nineties, after this case blew up, there were three different dramatizations of it.
Who that stand out to me the Drew Barrymore version and the Alisa Milano version that aired on the same night on ABC and CBS with very big stars.
So even though you could say Drew Barrymore is even a bigger star today, at the time she was a very big stars.
Lana was coming off of Who's the Boss yep, very recognizable actors taking over and be portraying Amy Fisher, and both were from Amy's perspective, from her Amy Fisher story where Mary Joe but Ifuko is really just sort of the victim, and a small portion where the affair and relationship between Joey and Amy was the fuckus y.
Speaker 1Yes, I mean it was something like I believe it was one hundred to one hundred and twenty five million people watched one or the other of at least one of those movies.
I mean, that is an extraordinary amount of people who watched something the very first time that it was on.
I mean, it captivated the entire country.
Speaker 2You've now seen this Mary Joe Buttafuco story that we're going to be talking about today.
What is your takeaway or what surprised you in watching this dramatization and sort of documentary version.
The others maybe uh misled us with well.
Speaker 1I think first and foremost, I was struck by just how raw and open she was about her own mistakes in the midst of something that no one could I mean, she is was utterly dropped in to this.
This is not her fault write any of this, and she really chose to be self reflective over the years and learning about how she developed a pill addiction from her injuries, but then also as sort of a coping mechanism to deal with what was happening, which is entirely understandable.
And I think I really understood how her real goal in life was to be a wife and a mother, like a very pure goal she had, and it was decimated by this man, really by her husband, And I think this is the first time where you really see that she is accountable for her own decisions, but you really see how she is finally I think, making him accountable.
Speaker 2It's been thirty years and it's still a story that captivates us and obviously is the driving force of her life.
Yes, yeah, I mean it's her.
Speaker 1I was also struck by how kind of sweet she seems, like a very tender person and I don't think that was she was ever portrayed as that somehow, I just so, I feel like it's very revelatory, and I, like I said, I hope she I hope she feels some you know, if not closure, some some vindication, some healing, some you know that she's had her voice heard.
Speaker 2She never changed her name, she still married Joe Butafuco.
So when she tells this story, is she I'm married Joe Bafuco.
Speaker 1Yes, yes, which I do think is interesting because the sun did change his name.
She has two children, a daughter and a son, and the son, from what I understand, changed his life name because it's I mean, do you know anyone else with that last name?
I don't.
I've never heard of anyone else with that last name.
Speaker 2It's interesting.
In two thousand and six on entertainment tonight, I think Amy and Mary Joe did an interview.
Speaker 1Together, yes, which you know thinking about that now, I don't.
I mean the girl tried to kill her.
I mean, that's one thing.
There are a lot of things that are sort of unclear still, like whether Joey pressed her to do that or whether he even talked to her about it.
But what is unequivocal because she admits it is she went there to kill her like that was that was the intent.
Speaker 2She's started just seven years for the crime.
Speaker 1Of fifteen sure, and she was released early mainly because Mary Joe came and gave a statement on her behalf, which I think is extraordinary.
Speaker 2Now do they dig into that in this show Mary Joe's ability to forgive.
Speaker 1Yes, yes, yes, which is but you know in this way where they show the complexity of that that, yes, Mary Joe can see how this girl had a rough upbringing she was a child.
She can have some sympathy for that, but it doesn't excuse her behavior.
Speaker 2And yeah, initially Joey, but if you could denied the affair.
Yes, he later in court, Amy testifies against him, and he does admit.
Speaker 1He is a diabolical human being in my opinion, the fact that he could first of all just lie straight to his wife's face the police like everyone under the sun.
And then afterwards his lawyer said something to the effect of, oh, this is truly who he is.
He's a great family man.
So he pled guilty to this one count of statutory rape.
Like I don't he was almost like they were trying to champion him as if he's such a great guy, and then the neighborhood threw him a party when he got out of prison for statutory rape.
Speaker 2He was still at the time with Mary Joe I believe he was still married.
Two thousands, he was released from jail and marry joe and Joey moved to California.
She filed for divorce from him in two thousand and three.
He was remarried in two thousand and five.
Speaker 1Yet he also before while they were still married, he was arrested for a solicitation while he was on probation.
Speaker 2After he was released from prison.
Speaker 1After who was released from prison?
Speaker 2What do you think it is that makes this story so captivating still that we just still are learning and watching and this is a new version thirty years later.
What is it about this one?
Speaker 1I think, I think it's really sort of unbelievable still and then you think, well, it happened, and this girl is still I mean she I think part of it is somehow these these people get to have a second life by doing these kind of exploitative shows about themselves, and that is so disturbing to me.
So that's another reason that I feel I feel really happy is the wrong word, you know.
I feel really good for Mary Joe that she's able to have this platform and really be forthright and raw and honest and truth about her own story.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2I think it's interesting that infamous is what these people are, which is a lot of people don't know.
And it for me is becoming famous for something bad, but it is still fame, and so many people thrive off of being famous even if it is infamous.
Speaker 1Right, And this is something interesting that Mary Joe does say in this movie that she never wanted to be famous.
She never wanted any attention like this.
Like I said, she wanted a simple life.
This is a good person.
She was raised Catholic, very traditional, wanted to be a wife and a mother, and she chose the wrong dude for that.
Okay, let's get into it with the executive producer, Sherry Singer of the new Lifetime film.
I am Mary Joe Buttafuco.
Welcome, Sherry, thank you for being here with me today.
Speaker 3I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1I want to say just to start that I am so incredibly glad that this woman finally gets her time to take back her own story.
We have been hearing about this for years and I'm just I feel very moved by the entire endeavor.
Speaker 3So bravo, thank you very much.
I was too, and I didn't necessarily expect to be, you know, I just thought, well, i'll care, you know, but it was beyond particularly once I met her and I directed all the inserts of her and just watching her, you know, he's kind of amazing too.
Speaker 1What happens is Mary Joe is sitting and she's quite literally speaking to the camera telling her story, and then it's intercut with narrative and actors and acting it.
And there is something incredibly powerful about that that you see the nuance.
It's almost as though you see her kind of healing while she's speaking.
It's kind of extraordinary.
Speaker 3You know, when we filmed the wedding scene, she was on the set.
She came for a few days and she cried.
I mean it was it was super emotional.
Everybody on the set loved her immediately.
I love this so much for her, me too, me too.
How can you not?
Speaker 1How can you not?
Okay, So, let's so this case became tabloid legend, I mean literally almost instantly.
And how did you approach dramatize the story that people think they know, but really they mostly only know it through headlines and caricatures of these people.
Speaker 3Well, we actually just touched on that a little bit.
It was meant to be.
Lifetime has this sort of I Am or I was franchised where a woman that was famous or infamous years later reflects back on the story that everybody thinks they knew and tells it and you know, pretty much entirely from her point of view.
And that doesn't mean we didn't have other sources, but this is the story that she wanted to tell.
So we felt all of us, you know, felt very responsible for being true to that.
Speaker 1Right And how did she how did you come to meet her?
How did this The.
Speaker 3Project actually was somebody at Lifetime, an executive that I work with frequently, who who I think they hooked up through Instagram believe it or not.
Speaker 1I think, you know, I personally feel like that's how we heal through anything, right.
But she I was so really moved by that, which I was not expecting necessarily, because I feel like that there's a nuance in this, you know, that complication of how they always made Amy Fisher look like the victim, yes, and then at the same time demonized her.
So it's like all the women in this story just got the worst end.
Yeah, especially married Joe, but especially married Joe yep, I mean beyond everything else, you know, she's still got a bullet in her head.
It's unfaible.
So well, let's yeah, let's talk about the actual case a little bit.
So how true is the portrayal in the film of her dealing with the issues of like Joey not being home or her being alone with the kids, and him not growing up and his denial of the affair, Because I felt like those are the things that somehow no one ever talked about, like they never he was just sort of excused for this behavior and almost championed.
You know, the moment when they say she says that they threw a party for him when he got out of jail serving time for statutory rape.
Speaker 3I know it's I don't think that would happen today, you know, because going back about thirty four years, thirty five years now, so for reasons that you and I and the audience have lived through during this time, you know that wouldn't happen.
But it did, and we had to have multiple sources for you know, all of our scenes.
It was the writer did a tremendous amount of research, spent a long time I'm interviewing Mary Joe, and would go back to her, you know, when he was constructing things, and we made sure I mean the actual the parts that she isn't in.
She still read the script at a certain point, but she saw all the things that she was going to say and had her own input in that.
And you know, I guess we've all decided to believe her it's first hand, and I do, by the way, believe it.
In fact, I think it was probably worse than you know, what we could portray.
Yes, I think it was a conservative view.
Speaker 1Yes, as a viewer, at moments, I felt like, gosh, she just was able to withstand so much but then also be very transparent about how awful some of these things were.
And I just kept thinking, this is you know, generationally, that is not normal.
It's not something that you know, we culturally have done in this country ever.
And so I feel like, and her being raised Catholic and all of the sort of her own religious and cultural things, that just said, you have to be a partner, that's what you do you can't.
Speaker 3That's a really central part of understanding why she stayed for eleven years after the incident and why and her family pressures, you know, from there from their religion, because people say, oh a, why didn't Why did you so not believe him?
You know, and be why did you stay?
And we felt it was really important to tell to answer that question for the audience because for those who already knew this story, those are the biggest questions.
Speaker 1Yes.
Yes, And when you hear it and you see this, it makes I mean, it's utterly understandable, you know, the amount of I just can't imagine that you could ever stand up to that at that time, under those circumstances and wanting to be I thought it was so beautiful.
You know, we often do not champion and celebrate stay at home moms, and it's the single most important job there is, in my opinion, and oftentimes, you know, women sort of they don't get appreciated enough for that.
And this seems like a woman who that's really what she wanted to do.
She wanted to be a wife and a mother, yes, and it's such a pure, beautiful desire and to have it so destroyed like, I just it's devastating.
Speaker 3Yeah, it really is, and that really is who she was.
And I think, you know, back then it was we were also sort of struggling with men's rights and you know, women's and women standing up and saying I can be a mother and a wife, but some people just want to do one or the other, you know.
And it's no different than than many many, many career women who have deep careers deciding that not having kids is you know, right for them.
So I think it was.
It's a lot of in the hindsight looking at what was going on in the country then, right right, as well as this story.
Speaker 1Yes, as well as the specifics for them.
And that also makes me think about her addiction to the pain pills and the medications.
You know, we didn't no one was talking about addiction to opioids at that time, nobody seven years seven years.
So yeah, how much do you think how much was that a part of her denial?
Did she talk?
Speaker 3Well, I'm sure that that that was.
It was all of the all of the things you're bringing up, you know, we were a part of it, and she didn't want to believe it.
She was told not to believe it.
By people in her life that mattered, and she had kids, and you know it's I mean, I've been through it.
It's really hard to get a divorce, even when you both want it.
It's really hard, right, and even if people are civil, right, you know so, And in those days, you were told it's better to stay in an unhappy marriage than to put your kids through a divorce.
That was the molt, you know, from the late eighties certainly through the nineties, and and some of us never agreed with that, but a lot of people did.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3Yeah, so I think she's she's you know, iconic in this way.
You know that that the things that happened to her happened at a time and a place that they could right.
Speaker 1Right, Let's talk a little bit about the the the actual shooting, to which I think, you know, we kind of gloss over this, the specifics of she was standing on her own doorstep of her own home, yes, with being unafraid of looking at this little girl, and so how how true to reality were those specifically the things when they she goes and tries to sell her candy bars under the guys's of doing that for school, And we.
Speaker 3Didn't make any of this up.
Speaker 1That's all real.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, we did.
We took very little, if anything, we took very We took almost no creative license because we couldn't and and therefore, you know what you saw happened.
Speaker 1You just see how young this person is, the Amy, the choices she made in so naive and so wildly dangerous by going to the door first, and so were those things were real that she like stopped her and tried to I mean, it's just crazy.
Speaker 3Those two people that she hired for the first one who couldn't pull the trigger and then the second one where she got the gun.
I mean they testified, you know, on the record.
Speaker 1They really helped to prosecute they did.
Speaker 3Yes, you know, probably for a deal, you know that, but that'll that's standard, you know, if you're going to step up and tell the truth and you want you want something in return, right right?
No, they you know, so they were very real people.
Speaker 1Right did she when in the in the movie they show Mary Joe and she comes to and she identified Amy in a in a photo that was that also really?
Speaker 3Yes, happened.
Yeah, we couldn't.
We had very little creative license.
I mean you can the kind of creative license you have is maybe a scene that really occurred, didn't happen in the park we shot it in, or you know, maybe the you know, the the photos we took for example, when she remarried, you know, that was representative of what, you know, what their life was like, because it was you know, but those kinds of things, even with a you know, with a based on fact docudrama, you can have a little latitude for setting things, you know, maybe in a different place because you're shooting a movie.
Sure you don't as opposed to a documentary.
But even with documentaries, now you know, they're recreating, right, you know, they're all the reality shows and the docs have lots of recreation in them, right, So we obviously had had to do that.
But I know, it's kind of hard to believe that these things really happened.
Speaker 1It really is unbelievable, much of it.
Speaker 3I mean, I have to tell you, I was around and in the business producing and some of my friends made those three Network movies, so I remember them very well, and it's they really were you know, the fact that they did the Amy Fisher story, you know what.
Speaker 1I it's it's stunning to me.
Speaker 3Think back on that and it's it's just so shocking.
But a lot of it was it was instantaneous, you know, it happened.
I mean, she was on a set.
Mary Joe was on a set six months after she was shot.
Speaker 1So those dates are real, That's what I was gathering.
Speaker 3Oh my gosh, they all had to be real.
Speaker 1I mean, that's they don't even they haven't even processed.
She can she's still in very early stages of her injuries.
I can't even imagine the confusion of that and the And I really appreciated how she talked about in retrospect, now how absurd all of that was that but you but you what do you do all of the you know, there's just a multitude that was so complicated what was happening, and then just having to go with it.
And I really I really appreciated that and the complexity and Amy being portrayed as the victim.
But then Mary Joe's opinion based on her own actual experiences, And did you feel this from her?
Did you talk about that at all?
Speaker 3Yeah, Well, one of the things we talked about was that obviously this is a woman who shot to kill her, you know, and she didn't die, and it uprooted the entire you know, her entire life obviously, and her kid's life.
But at a certain point, you know, she started leaning into and you saw this, you know, this scene when she comes out of rehab where she's telling her kids, I have to forgive.
And I think one of the things that I admire the most about her is I don't know if I could do that, you'd be perfectly honest.
Speaker 1I am telling you.
I was asking myself that many times watching this movie, like would I be capable?
Like I'd love to think that that one I would have left immediately, which you know, I'm certain that wouldn't have happened either.
But you know, her strength is something else.
Speaker 3I agree, Yeah, and I still see it, you know, I I saw it.
And she also she's very, very sweet.
And the other thing was she was very I mean, and she's a lot of other things too, you know, but she wanted to do her best job, you know, of telling the story from her point of view, and I you know, the proof is in the fact that she's very close still to her kids.
You know, I met her daughter.
Yeah, and when we were shooting the inserts, who was lovely and therapist now and and and she made it a priority to give you know, yes, yes, create that she had the opportunity to do that.
And really, I mean, Lifetime was the right home for this.
Speaker 1I mean, it really is a you know, we I think about this a lot and talk about this a lot.
You know, the idea of turning pain into purpose and all of that, and it seems so kind of trite at this point we just say that as a term, but there is so much methodical, deep work that actually goes into being able to do that.
And I've I just I'm you know, I mean, she talks about she uses the term having Stockholm syndrome even you know, because this is also about he was an abusive man, yes, emotionally, and it's really uh, that's a whole other part that again nobody really talks about.
It's it really is is shocking how much things have you know, changed.
So were you with you know, this branding of the Long Island Lolita, We all just like accepted that as oh okay, and I'll let me read this article about like it just is bananas when I think about it now.
And that obviously shifted some sympathy towards her, but also exploited her.
But how conscious were you guys of correcting that narrative?
Speaker 3What we wanted.
The best way to do it is, I think the way it turned out, which is for Mary Joe to say, you know, I, yes she did this, you know, yes, you know it roomed a big part of my life.
Yes, it had a lot of impact on my kids.
Yes it broke up my marriage, but in a certain sense, you know, there were she was so young.
I mean, that's all you really have to say.
She was seventeen years old, right, right?
And you know, and you know, I don't know what was in her head because I haven't met her and I haven't talked to her.
I mean I've watched a lot of the old footage and seen statements that she has made, but I don't I couldn't speak for her, but I can say that Mary that having married Joe, watch her come to that conclusion and say it both as the character and as the real Mary Joe was a priority for her, for sure, it was.
Speaker 1Yeah, Yes, getting back to her daughter.
Did her daughter have any reactions on set?
Speaker 3Was she there when you wasn't actually on the set when we shot?
She was because we shot you know, in a distant location, and Jesse, her daughter has a life in California and a therapy practice and other things, so she couldn't make it.
But and also frankly, it can be very boring for somebody who's not Ayes.
I mean everybody thinks it's like I want to go to a movie set.
Speaker 1Yeah.
I remember my dad coming to the set first time.
He called it.
It's like watching the grass grow.
Speaker 3Oh yeah, I like watching paint dry.
Speaker 1In Joey's sentencing, Amy Fisher spoken implied that Joey knew she was planning to shoot Mary Joe and all these Do you have any thoughts on that.
Speaker 3I have no idea whether that was true or not.
Yeah, And I think, you know, the human in me would like to believe that he didn't.
Speaker 1Right, the human in me would like to believe that also.
Speaker 3So I have no idea.
Yeah, I doubt it.
Speaker 1Actually, it's been such a long time since the crime occurred.
But what do you think is the hardest thing for Mary Joe about making this film?
Speaker 3Saying, you know, coming to grips with I think the easiest thing was.
And then I'll say what I think the hardest thing was.
I think the easiest thing for her was that she felt like she had an opportunity to really tell her story and with some distance.
So I think that part, I think the hardest part was.
I mean, she was very, very emotional, you know, she it took her back through you know, all the things right that happened or most and but I and I think she I you know, when when we were shooting her on camera part and we got to the end and she started to cry, you know, she said, you could take that out, you don't have to use that, And I said, how can I not?
You know, that's how you felt.
And I'm not going to you know, erase that, you know, to plase, you know, yes, because you think an audience might be at by it.
Do you know what.
Speaker 1Absolutely humanizes her on a level That end makes us realize just how exploited and forgotten and pushed aside she was in this whole, this whole situation, which is imaginable when you think that she is the person who was the victim of the Christ.
She did nothing, She was utterly innocent, and somehow the story has always become about the other two.
Speaker 3Well, it's more tabloidy when it's when it's about the other two that right, that is and certainly you know the National Inquirer was a big deal then.
Yes, I really didn't have the Internet yet or social media.
Speaker 1The National Inquirer I remember it, yep.
Speaker 3Me too.
And you know I was working in the world, so I I I don't know.
I mean when it actually happened, I was making family movies for Walt Disney Della, So I wasn't in that world until a few years later and when I actually started at Lifetime, and I I just think that that that was the thing to do then, and it was not.
I mean, I can think of a lot of sensational stories that happened to women, you know that you could have blamed them for, right, the burning.
Speaker 1Bed, Oh yes, indeedy Lorena Bobbitt, all of that.
Yeah, those things that were you know, we just sort of didn't question the narrative that was being sold.
And it's really or And I was also so I'm gonna say moved again, but I was by her by Mary Joe talking about you know, the SNL sketches, all of the comedy, the people turning it the.
Speaker 3Talk show to SNL.
She talked about comedy Skitch that comedy sketches.
Speaker 1Sorry, she didn't call out anyone specifically, yes, to be clear, but the comedy.
You know, I just can't imagine how that felt.
Speaker 3I can't either.
I mean, I hate watching myself doing a normal interview.
You know, I can't imagine it either.
But and it was she was just very very open about talking.
Speaker 1About I do think there is as you said, you know, the distance and perspective really is key in this.
Speaker 3And also changing times, you know what I mean, not just but it was a while ago, but that times have changed.
Speaker 1Why do you think people are still so fascinated by this case?
Speaker 3Because I think it was it was sort of a household name.
I mean, people that that are younger than I am, you know, vaguely remember it, and people that lived in Long Island remember it.
Speaker 1That's me.
I grew up about thirty minutes from where this happened, and I was living in Manhattan at the time in college and auditioning, and so this was like on every paper.
And you know, my parents still lived on Long Island at the time, so it was everywhere, the local, the national.
It just was absolutely everywhere and so identifiable because that accent.
I grew up with that accent.
It's so specific, just kind of all of it.
Speaker 3Yes, it was challenging casting people who could.
Speaker 1Who could do it right because it's not a New York accent, it's a Long Island accent.
Speaker 3Yes, you really have to listen to it carefully.
Yeah, but yes, that's kind of an unferred There was almost like a character.
Long Island was almost like a character in theory.
Speaker 2Yep.
Speaker 1Yeah, because Joey sort of epitomized that.
Yes, and you know that guy, that Italian Long Island guy who can do whatever, and oh he's charming, you know, he just sort of gets away with it.
So what do you hope that the millions of people who were obsessed with this and will watch this film, what do you hope that they will get out of it?
Well?
Speaker 3First, I hope they watch it and can't help it.
But secondly, I hope they get out of it the things we're actually talking about, yes, which are how times can change, how social mores and religious mores can change, but can also really in any direction, really influence people's opinions of things and the way they look at them.
And I think that I I just want her to be heard authentically.
You know as as herself.
Yes, and I think we you know, we worked really hard to have the all the pieces that weren't actually her feel authentic.
And you know, we had three wonderful leads and and I wasn't sure and they were hard to they were going to be hard to find because of the accents and the mannerisms and how many years the you know, the story to a lot of these stories do not cover that many years.
You know, where you're changing here and colors and the way you look and what's going on in the world, and you know, so there was a lot of production around doing.
Speaker 1The performances were very, very strong everybody.
Speaker 3I'm really proud of them.
I really am so.
Speaker 1After everything that Mary Joe has adored and been through.
What do you think I mean this this idea of closure, which I always think.
Speaker 3Is a farce the somewhat anyway.
Speaker 1You get some Yeah, like, what do you think it looks like for her?
And do you think that she has gotten some healing from making this film?
Speaker 3I think she did.
I mean she I think because she could let herself emotionally experience these things, you know, and because of how she felt on the set, and because of how she felt when she was, you know, delivering the things she wanted to say camera.
I think she probably got some of that.
And I think, you know, there's this feeling if you feel totally misunderstood and you get a chance to, in your own words, try to set it straight.
You know, that would feel liberating to me in a certain way.
She's also, like, you know, very close to her daughter and her son, and she's very present, you know, she was.
I found her.
I wasn't sure right right what it was going to be like, and I found her very very present and really thoughtful, you know, about what was going on.
Speaker 1Oh I love I just love hearing that so much.
Speaker 3You really, I mean, I wouldn't say it if I didn't really believe it.
Speaker 1So I am Mary Joe Budafuco will premiere on Saturday, January seventeenth, at eight pm Eastern and Pacific on Lifetime.
Everyone must watch it.
Speaker 3I'm glad you really like the movie, and I hope a lot of people will watch.
Speaker 1I do too.
I do too.
Thank you so much, Sherry, Thank you so much.
Okay, I want to hear what cases you all are interested in hearing about.
What are you watching that you want us to talk about what actors or producers or directors do you want to hear.
Hit us up at our DMS at Killer Thriller Pod on Instagram and TikTok and let us know.
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