Exclusive - Dean Cain: 'Gosnell' Movie About One of Nation's 'Biggest Serial Killers'
Actor Dean Cain says the new movie he stars in, “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer,” captures one of the most compelling and under-reported true crime stories of recent times.
“It’s an unbelievable story about a man who could very well be America’s biggest serial killer,” Cain told The Western Journal over the weekend at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.
The former “Lois & Clark” star plays Philadelphia police detective James “Woody” Wood, who conducted a prescription drug bust on Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s abortion clinic in 2011 only to discover unimaginably horrible conditions in the facility.
“They made a raid on his clinic for narcotics and found literally a house of horrors: trash bags full of fetuses, cats running wild, unsterilized equipment. Just literally as bad as you can think, it was that times ten,” Cain said.
Gosnell was charged with seven counts of murder for killing late term babies who were born alive during abortion procedures. Additionally, he was indicted for the manslaughter of immigrant Karnamaya Mongar, who died a day after undergoing an abortion at Gosnell’s facility, NBC 10 Philadelphia reported.
He was ultimately convicted in May of 2013 on three counts of murder for three infant children and the involuntary manslaughter of Mongar.
Cain recounted that Gosnell likely killed hundreds or even thousands of other babies.
ABC News correspondent Terry Moran reportedly described the doctor as “America’s most prolific serial killer.”
Cain explained to The Western Journal the “Gosnell” filmmakers did not set out to tell a pro-life story, but a true to life story.
“We’re not saying it’s a pro-life movie or a pro-choice movie. We’re a film that literally tells the story,” he said.
“You’re not seeing horribly graphic things, but you see the emotional toll that it takes on the characters that are involved,” he added.
The film was screened at the Values Voter Summit and Cain’s characterization regarding graphic content in the production is correct.
Enough is shown to help the audience understand the horrible conditions in the clinic and the foul nature of the crimes, but much is also left to the individual audience member’s imagination.
For example, in a critical courtroom scene, jurors are shown the picture of a baby who was born alive and then murdered.
The movie audience does not see the picture, only the jurors’ reaction, who — film co-producer John Sullivan (“2016: Obama’s America”) revealed — were in fact viewing the image for the first time that was presented at the trial to the actual jurors.
Sullivan also noted that much of the dialogue from the trial scenes was taken from courtroom transcripts.
“As difficult as the subject matter is, it’s a very positive movie. You’re very moved by it,” Sullivan told The Western Journal. “It’s also inspiring because justice is served.”
The production quality of the film is strong and leads to a very emotional and satisfying ending.
In addition to Cain’s character Detective Wood, the central star of the film is Assistant Pennsylvania District Attorney Lexi McGuire (played by Sarah Jane Morris), who risks her legal career, political ambitions and public scorn to bring the case against Gosnell.
Her chief antagonist is Gosnell’s defense lawyer Michael Cohan, played by veteran Hollywood actor Nick Searcy (“Castaway,” “Shape of Water”), who also directed the film.
Searcy — who delivers a powerful performance — defended his decision to participate in “Gosnell” in a recent National Review Op-Ed.
“(T)his is a story about a serial murderer who was allowed to operate for 27 years,” he wrote. “Fear of the politics of abortion is what enabled him to continue, undetected, for decades.
“What this monster did and how and why he was allowed to get away with it for so long are equally shocking. The politics could not be ignored, but we tried to present them objectively in an honest and compelling film,” Searcy related.
Sullivan noted that one of the movie’s stars, Dominique Edwards, who plays a nurse named Betty in the clinic, changed her view from pro-choice to being pro-life as a result of her participation in the project.
Funding for “Gosnell” did not come through normal Hollywood channels. Two of the film’s producers and co-writers, Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, crowd-sourced the movie production costs, raising $2.3 million from almost 30,000 supporters on the site Indiegogo.
Sullivan asked any in the Values Voter crowd to stand if they had helped fund the movie and some rose throughout the room to the applause of the others on hand.
During a Q&A about “Gosnell” before its screening, Cain said he had taken some heat for coming to the conference.
“Just the fact that I’m here, people were blowing me up all day long,” he said referring to social media, where some accused him of betraying the LGBTQ community by appearing at the event.
“I take heat. It doesn’t bother me,” Cain said. “I welcome it, because I sleep well at night and I know that I’m doing something that matches my convictions and my heart.”
“Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” opens theaters nationwide on Oct. 12.
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