Ted Bundy (film)
Encyclopedia
Ted Bundy is a 2002
film by American
film director
and writer Matthew Bright
. The film dramatizes the crimes of serial killer
Ted Bundy
. It stars Michael Reilly Burke
in the title role, and Boti Bliss
as Bundy's girlfriend, Lee (a character based on Elizabeth Kloepfer, Bundy's real life girlfriend during his killing spree).
takes many creative liberties, changing or conflating events and shifting their timing, as is common in Hollywood re-tellings of real-life events. Examples include:
2002 in film
The year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...
film by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and writer Matthew Bright
Matthew Bright
Matthew Bright is an American film director, writer and actor.His first noted credits were as writer and actor in the 1982 film Forbidden Zone, portraying the twins Squeezit and René Henderson...
. The film dramatizes the crimes of serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy was an American serial killer, rapist, kidnapper, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women during the 1970s, and possibly earlier...
. It stars Michael Reilly Burke
Michael Reilly Burke
Michael Reilly Burke is an American actor. He played Rex Van De Kamp on the unaired pilot of Desperate Housewives. Steven Culp replaced him before the pilot aired. He also appeared in The WB series Charmed in the episode Heartbreak City...
in the title role, and Boti Bliss
Boti Bliss
Boti Ann Bliss is an American film and television actress. Notable roles include her semi-recurring role as Maxine Valera in the television crime drama CSI: Miami...
as Bundy's girlfriend, Lee (a character based on Elizabeth Kloepfer, Bundy's real life girlfriend during his killing spree).
Cast
- Michael Reilly BurkeMichael Reilly BurkeMichael Reilly Burke is an American actor. He played Rex Van De Kamp on the unaired pilot of Desperate Housewives. Steven Culp replaced him before the pilot aired. He also appeared in The WB series Charmed in the episode Heartbreak City...
as Ted Bundy - Boti BlissBoti BlissBoti Ann Bliss is an American film and television actress. Notable roles include her semi-recurring role as Maxine Valera in the television crime drama CSI: Miami...
as Lee (as Boti Ann Bliss) - Steffani BrassSteffani BrassSteffani Anne Brass is an American teen actress.Brass was born in Woodland Hills, California. She is the youngest of four children; she has two older sisters and an older brother. She also has a nephew....
as Julie - Eric DaRe as Male Partygoer (as Eric Dare)
- Tricia DicksonTricia DicksonTricia Dickson is an American voice actress who has had roles in anime and video game titles for New Generation Pictures. For a brief time, she was also a cast member of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series, All That.-Anime roles:...
as Barbara Vincennes (First Victim) - Matt Hoffman as Arnie
- Tracey WalterTracey WalterTracey Walter is an American character actor. He has appeared in over 100 films and television shows.-Life and career:Walter was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of a truck driver....
as Randy Meyers - Zarah LittleZarah LittleZarah Little is an American actress and voice actress. She has done voicework for New Generation Pictures and FUNimation Entertainment.-Anime:* Angel Tales - Tsubasa the Parakeet* Boys Be.....
as Patricia Garber (Victim) - Julianna McCarthyJulianna McCarthyJulianna McCarthy is an American actress. McCarthy was an original cast member of the soap opera The Young and the Restless, starring as matriarch Liz Foster from 1973 to 1982. She reprised the role in 1984, 1985–86, 1993, 2003–2004, and 2008...
as Professor - Deborah Offner as Beverly
- Melissa Schmidt as Female Partygoer
- Jennifer TisdaleJennifer TisdaleJennifer Kelly Tisdale is an American actress, and singer. She is the older sister of Suite Life of Zack and Cody and High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale.-Career:...
as Pretty Girl - Michael Santos as Man at the Window
- Meadow Sisto as Suzanne Welch (School Victim)
- Alison West as Shawn Randall (Beach Victim)
- Anna Lee Wooster as Girl Attacked on Street
- Alexa NikolasAlexa NikolasAlexa Helen Nikolas is an American actress. Her most notable is that of Nicole Bristow on the Nickelodeon TV show Zoey 101, in which she appeared from 2005 to 2006.-Career:...
, Jesse James Rutherford, Oliver Kindred and Timothy Detersas "I'm Ted" Kid - Natasha Goodman as Suzanne Moore (Last Victim)
- Danielle Parris as Hooded Executioner
- Katrina Miller as Jane Gilchrist (Cheerleader Victim)
- David Schroeder as Warden
- Tiffany ShepisTiffany Shepis- External links :...
as Tina Gabler (Kidnap Victim) - Tom SaviniTom SaviniThomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
as Salt Lake City Detective
Differences between film and real events
The film's fictionalized narrativeNarrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
takes many creative liberties, changing or conflating events and shifting their timing, as is common in Hollywood re-tellings of real-life events. Examples include:
- In the movie, Bundy says he flunked out of law schoolLaw schoolA law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
and psychologyPsychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
classes. In real life, while Bundy was indeed a poor law school student, he graduated with honors from the University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
as a psychology major. - The "cheerleader" victim's name was Jane Gilchrist and there was no cheerleader victim in real life. In actuality, it was Debby Kent who was leaving a high school class play when Bundy snatched her.
- The film includes the murder of Caryn Campbell (in the ski resort) and Bundy's first arrest both taking place in 1976, when both those events took place in 1975.
- In the first prison escape, Ted is seen in the film exiting a window and onto a lower roof. He actually jumped directly from the window to the ground according to The Stranger Beside Me.
- In the film Bundy says ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
authorities are "asking for the death penalty"; in actuality prosecutors there had decided not to ask for the death penalty in his case. - During a scene in which Bundy took a victim from her home, the movie shows Bundy wrapping the victim in a large sheet and carrying her to his car. In the film, this was done in front of other witnesses on the street. Bundy stated to authors Michaud & Aynesworth that he was always careful about witness identification.
- In the film, Bundy's Volkswagen is yellow. In real life, it was tan.
- The final arrest of Bundy in 1978 for driving a stolen vehicle in Florida is shown happening beside a field in broad daylight. In real life, it took place in a residential neighborhood at 1:00 am.
- Bundy's execution in the film is carried out with inaccuracy, though it was accurate that Old SparkyOld SparkyOld Sparky is the nickname of the electric chairs in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New York, Texas, and Virginia. It was the nickname of the long-retired electric chair at the now-closed West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville, West...
was the electric chair used in both real life and film. In the film, Ted Bundy's colon was packed with cotton to avoid soiling, when in real life, at the time, this practice by the guards was discontinued. A flipped switch was used to operate the electric chair in the film for Bundy's execution, when in real life, the switch was actually a push of a button. While the film shows the hooded executioner as a female guard with long hair, the identity was anonymous in real life. - The executioner depicted in the movie is a uniformed corrections officer and is visible to the condemned in the death chamber. The Florida Corrections Commission Report watched the film and said that the executioner was indeed a private citizen paid $150 for the execution and was present in the death chamber behind a screen obstructed from the view of the witnesses.
- Bundy hotwires a car in the film. In real life, he only found the keys inside it to steal the vehicle.
- Bundy's final victim was a girl doing rope skipping in a park named Susan Moore. In real life, the girl was Kimberly Leach. At the time Bundy murdered her, she was returning to the school gymnasium to retrieve her forgotten purse.
- The executioner gave Bundy one application of lethal current during the execution in the film. Florida procedures said that current is applied three times in real life.