Its sort of the same way I feel about war. Since then, DeJonge has appeared insuch movies asThe VisitandBetter Watch Out, as well as the television seriesThe Society. It came from a letter sent by Margaret Ratliff, the daughter of Elizabeth Ratliff. Brunet, an acclaimed French filmmaker, says HBO Maxs adaptation doesnt accurately represent her 13-year relationship with accused murderer Michael Peterson. Share. In The Staircase, Clayton is played by Dane DeHaan from The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Rosemarie Dewitt stars as Candace Hunt Zamperini, Kathleen's sister. With 20 years of hindsight, she says, I wouldve said, No. Lauren Kranc is the assistant content strategy editor at Esquire, where she runs the brands social media accounts and covers pop culture and television, with entirely too narrow an expertise on true crime shows, .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}Bella Ramsey Sorts Out 'The Last of Us' Finale, 'The Diplomat' Season 2: Everything We Know, Woody Harrelson Opens Up About His 'SNL' Monologue, Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux Open Up, The Spookiest Urban Legend in Every State, 'Succession' Showed It's Not Fun Ruling the World, Eight Shows to Watch After 'The Diplomat', The True Story Behind HBO's 'Love & Death'. Before it digs into the past, episode one kicks off in February 2017. There was this amazing assistant position in the documentary department at Netflix, and I had a great call with H.R. Clayton Peterson is Michael Peterson's eldest son. The first 3 episodes of The Staircase premiere on Thursday, May 5, and the remaining episodes drop weekly on HBO Max. And I thought, I cant deal with that. Aiden Shaw Makes His Return In 'And Just Like That' Season 2, 15 Movies On Netflix About Mothers & Daughters Thatll Make You Emotional, Beef Captures Our Toxic Tendency To Confuse Love With Sacrifice, What Parents Are Talking About Delivered Straight To Your Inbox, By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. In 2008, Caitlin filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Michael, which the two later settled for $25 million, Newsweek reported. She says that Campos told her he was more interested in exploring the filmmakers behind the original Staircase docuseries, whom he folds into his dramatized version, than exploring her family. Could Margaret Ratliff Be Michael Peterson's Biological Daughter? MARGARET ELISABETH RATLIFF born December 10, 1981 in Germany. I think she looks so much like him - the eyes, the nose, the mouth. Margaret Ratliff. Sophie Turner as Margaret Ratliff. Ready for the full breakdown? Even with the Alford plea (a guilty plea in which the defendant doesnt admit to the crime but accepts the effects of a guilty plea), the family feels stuck in some kind of pop-culture purgatory. (Colin Firth later replaced Ford. Is it really ethically acceptable to take a living person, like my child, and then create this fantasy and fiction about them? Dewitt most recently starred as Linda McCullough in Little Fires Everywhere. The deaths of Elizabeth Ratliff and Kathleen Peterson were so similar that that prosecution had Ratliffs body exhumed during Michael Petersons trial in the death of Kathleen, and the nanny who discovered Ratliffs body testified against Peterson. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. At first, Caitlin Atwater is a supporter of Peterson but begins to question his innocence after reading her mother's autopsy report. I have been told and read everywhere that the HBO series has three scenes of her dying, all very graphic and violent. Self: Subject. And it's probably better that it remains unknown, because if Todd wanted the general public to know about his daily life he would likely find there was no shortage of publications eager for the information. When authorities found Elizabeth dead at the bottom of a staircase in Germany, autopsy results revealed that her cause of death was an intracerebral hemorrhage, per Newsweek. An array of Emmy-hungry new shows turned the genre on its head by giving voice to the victims. During their marriage, Michael and Patricia became close friends with their neighbors at the time, George and Elizabeth Ratliff. For me, its like [my] heart beats faster, I cant breathe, and I worry that Im going to pass out. Hence, it was only after matters settled for good that she and her sister were able to grieve the woman they genuinely considered their mother, Kathleen. At that time, we were afraid he was facing the death penalty, recalls Ratliff in a phone interview with Vanity Fair on Saturday. Initially, German officials ruled. They dont want to live this all over again, which is pretty much the reason why I took the Alford plea, says Michael. How the HBO Max series reenacted one of the most outlandish theories in true crimeand made it pretty believable. Im 78. I used to suffer a lot from really bad nightmares; I used to have really bad panic attacks in public spaces because of being in the trial, she said. He was convicted of her murder in 2003, but there were long questions about his guilty. The circumstances in which their mother died. And then they realized who I was., Ratliff says that, at the time, the company was figuring out how to market the original documentary episodes of The Staircasearguing whether my sister and I should be on the billboard. Ratliff claims that once the company discovered she was that Margaret Ratliff, an executive producer from Netflix called her to the building, sat her down in the cafeteria, and told me the situation., She got the sense that Netflix thought her being on the company payroll might be a conflict of interest. He was the first person to see Michael after Kathleen died, and he also supported his father during the trial. Born two years apart to Air Force Captain George Ratliff and military teacher Elizabeth Ratliff in Germany in the early 1980s, Margaret and Martha lost both their biological parents as toddlers. Author Diane Fanning writes in her book Written in Blood that Todd supposedly told police officers he thought Kathleen's death was alcohol-related, per Newsweek. You cant fabricate stories about living people the way he did when they are not public figures., In an email to Vanity Fair on Monday, de Lestrade noted that Michaels story was a public story. Travel guide resource for your visit to Charancieu. Peterson has always maintained that Kathleen, 48, must have fatally injured herself in a fall. Initially, Turners Margaret stands with the fictional Michael Peterson (Colin Firth). He was eventually released on bail and wore an ankle monitor in 2011 after the validity of the trial was brought into question. Michael was coincidently the last person to see Elizabeth alive, leading many to speculate an affair or some conflict between the two once Kathleens case came around over 15 years later. Michael then married Kathleen. So, where is Todd Peterson today? Fashion brand Emporio Armani unveiled its Spring Summer 2023 campaign starring models Finn Prentice and Loic Namigandet lensed by photographer Giampaolo Sgura. Playing Michael Peterson's adoptive daughter, Martha Ratliff, is Odessa Young, who previously worked with Colin Firth in 2022's Mothering Sunday and Michael Stuhlbarg in Shirley two years. Rosemarie DeWitt has appeared in many films and television series throughout her career, ranging from horror to comedy. I didnt want to see three fictitious, or two, at least, fictitious renditions of it, says Michael. He helped to overturn the wrongful conviction of Alan Gell, return hard-earned money to Vietnamese immigrants Hai and Oanh Le Nguyen after it was seized by the federal government, and got several accused murderers acquitted. As Ratliff makes clear in Subject, a documentary she coproduced that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this past weekend, she had no reason to believe that de Lestrades resulting docuseries, The Staircase, would be widely seen. A grim, beguiling adaptation of the popular documentary takes a meta approach to a popular genre. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. So why does she look like him? French actress Binoche is best known for her Oscar-winning performance in The English Patient. Collette is best known for starring in the films Muriel's Wedding and Knives Out. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Colin Firth is a well-established actor in the world of film and television. Michael Peterson, whose life story serves as the inspiration for HBO's The Staircase, is upset at the series' portrayal of events, saying it goes beyond artistic license. Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth portrays Michael Peterson in HBO Max's The Staircase. If I had not taken the Alford plea but gone on with another trial, it wouldve been years more. Just lied with fabrications., He added this his family is not full of public figures and that the depicting them so vividly is "reckless.". To this day, Michael says that she died from a tragic fall down the stairs. Following Kathleens death, though, Michael could not do much to protect his adopted daughters, then ages 20 and 18. By entering an Alford plea, Michael pled guilty to manslaughter while still claiming to be innocent. All rights reserved. As of 2018, he lives in Baltimore and has two children. She was never offered the job. I feel really sorry, but Michael is focusing on the wrong target., Michael finds it particularly rich that Colin Firth did not reach out to him, allegedly out of concern that it would influence his portrayal. While Todd and his siblings were of the opinion that Michael did not harm Kathleen, according to AP News they still encouraged him to settle the case instead of having a retrial. In 2004, a family friend named Kerry Sutton told local news affiliate WRAL that the Peterson children were "getting on with their lives." Hell, my grandchildren would be involved.. It's not clear what his job is, or whether he did end up getting married and having children. Black played an instrumental role in securing the murder conviction, playing on Peterson's bisexuality to create a strong motive that won over the jury. Both Margaret and Martha appeared frequently in interviews and documentaries in support of their father. Michael Peterson's Son, Todd, Leads A Quiet Life These Days by Megan Walsh June 12, 2018 Though Michael Peterson's adopted daughters, Martha and Margaret Ratliff, had the largest presence. The final episodes of the docuseries caught up with most of the kids, but mentions of Todd were minimal.
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