NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Charles Cullen is by some estimates the most prolific serial killer in American history. But when Krysty Wilson-Cairns began writing the script about his capture, she started not with Cullen, who was sentenced to consecutive life sentences in 2006, but outside the home of Amy Loughren, the nurse who first uncovered his crimes.
鈥淚 turned up at the real Amy鈥檚 house in upstate New York,鈥� Wilson-Cairns, the Scottish screenwriter, recalls. 鈥淚 think I was 23 or 24. I was like: 鈥業鈥檝e never done this before. It鈥檚 really important to me. It鈥檚 your life story. Can you help me?鈥欌��
鈥淭he Good Nurse,鈥� which debuts Wednesday on Netflix, takes a deliberately different approach to the true-crime thriller. The story of Cullen, but is believed to have killed more than 300 hospital patients while working as a nurse in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, could easily be the kind of sensationalist serial-killer tales that populate streaming services.
But, director Tobias Lindholm and Wilson-Cairns, drawing significantly from Charles Graeber鈥檚 forensically researched 2013 book, wanted to focus their film on Loughren and bigger questions about the U.S. health care system raised by Cullen鈥檚 16 years of undetected murder.
鈥淚 saw the potential of doing a serial killer in a way that we had never seen it before, where we wouldn鈥檛 be seduced by why is he doing this or how damaged is he as a person, but take a step back and look at why and how would we allow for this to go on,鈥� says Lindholm. 鈥淗e鈥檚 not, in my mind, Hannibal Lecter. It鈥檚 not this brilliant mind. It鈥檚 a fairly simple guy doing a fairly simple thing, but a system allowing it.鈥�
鈥淭he Good Nurse,鈥� which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, stars Jessica Chastain as Loughren and Eddie Redmayne as Cullen. In , 鈥淭he Good Nurse鈥� trades on their natural chemistry together. Loughren befriends the recently hired Cullen. Transferring from hospital to hospital, Cullen was easily able to cover up his lethal poisoning of patients in intravenous fluids 鈥� thanks, the book and movie suggest, to for-profit hospitals covering up potential liability.
鈥淭his case asks us if it鈥檚 a good idea that people are making money from other people鈥檚 health,鈥� says Lindholm. 鈥淚s it a good idea that hospitals are businesses?鈥�
Adapting 鈥淭he Good Nurse鈥� was Wilson-Cairns first job for hire some 10 years ago. Since then, she's co-authored a pair of high-profile projects: 鈥�1917,鈥� with Sam Mendes, and 鈥淟ast Night in Soho," with Edgar Wright. Her trip to visit Loughren was just her second time in America. To research the film, she spent two weeks shadowing nurses at a Connecticut hospital.
鈥淲hat I found is that the actual health care providers 鈥� the doctors, the nurses, the radiologists, the anesthesiologists 鈥� all these people are incredible and are heroic,鈥� says Wilson-Cairns. 鈥淭hey put their lives in a box so they can help save other people. I don鈥檛 think any of them are paid enough. I think even at 10 times, those nurses aren't paid enough. I learned that the system they are forced to work within is not the best for patient care.鈥�
Making 鈥淭he Good Nurse鈥� was temporarily postponed when Lindholm, the Danish writer of the acclaimed films 鈥淎nother Round鈥� and 鈥淭he Hunt," went off to make the six-part miniseries 鈥淭he Investigation,鈥� about . Chastain and Redmayne remained committed to making the film with Lindholm, drawn to his naturalistic approach.
Chastain, following up leaned on conversations with Loughren, a single mother. She responded particularly to how Loughren worked as a nurse through her arrhythmia. Before shooting a scene, Chastain would jog around set to get her heart rate up. She also wore an ear piece with a heart beat that could accelerate in the middle of a scene.
鈥淪he worked nights so her daughters felt like she was a stay-at-home mom. That鈥檚 what she kept saying, that her kids saw her when they were awake,鈥� Chastain says. 鈥淭he idea that this woman would risk her health in order to provide for her children and also risk her comfort by not getting the sleep she needed, it told me so much about who she was and what she was capable of.鈥�
Redmayne, stepping into darker territory than he's known for, drew on footage of Cullen from his courtroom appearances and from 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� to build a performance that eluded usual serial killer stereotypes. In Graeber鈥檚 book, Cullen is described as 鈥渁 sad Mr. Rogers type, both drippy and depressed.鈥�
鈥淭here was something in his physicality that was interesting to me,鈥� Redmayne says. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a very still man. But if you actually look close, you鈥檒l see he鈥檚 always soothing himself. I don鈥檛 know if soothing is the right word, but touching fabrics. There鈥檚 always something moving. The guy was a horrendously damaged human being and that idea of looking for comfort was interesting to me.鈥�
Most encouraging to Wilson-Cairns is seeing Loughren, 10 years after she sheepishly knocked on her door, be celebrated for what she did. At , Loughren fought back tears during a standing ovation.
鈥淭his woman just wasn鈥檛 recognized for what she did,鈥� says Wilson-Cairns. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 think of ordinary women as these kind of heroes. They鈥檙e not on screens, they鈥檙e not in the media, they鈥檙e not in books enough. To see the real Amy finally be recognized in a small way for what she did 鈥� which is save countless lives 鈥� I thought: That鈥檚 not a bad way to spend a decade. I鈥檇 do that again.鈥�
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
