"Assassins" P.R.

I was asked to write something about my process for possible p.r. for the show. Here's what I wrote (sorry if some of it is repetitive.)

I was thrilled to be cast in “Assassins” and immediately started doing research, reading books like “American Assassins: The Darker Side of Politics” and Jess Bravin’s terrific biography: “Squeaky: The Life And Times of Lynette Alice Fromme.” (Sorry, I can’t underline in my email, as those two titles should be.) But certain things I read in books and on the internet struck me as untrue somehow. Then I watched the amazing documentary “Manson” and saw tons of footage of Lynette that blew my mind: it’s amazing how lucid she seems, how passionate. The footage was taken when she was in her early 20s. With her beautiful red hair, her legs crossed like a lady, her clear ruddy complexion and her innocent eyes she proclaims, "You have to be ready [to use violence] right here right now right here!" She looks and sounds like wholesome Sandy Duncan at the same age. Next I expect her to sing, "Grey skies are gonna clear up: put on a happy face!" It’s scarily exhilarating to watch her, the way towards the end she cradles a snake like it’s a puppy and yet talks about how people should be like snakes, always ready to strike and kill. The way she talks about love I want to hug her: she giggles and smiles innocently, but then she’s holding a knife or a gun and fondling it with complete adoration and admiration, as if she’d like to make it part of her own body. I feel like I know her, and then she scares the crap out of me. I just don’t get the violence thing, maybe just because I know so little about it. I was so intrigued by her after watching the film that I felt I had to write to her, I wanted to hear her say why she did what she did, not someone else’s take on it. There is so much sweetness and light and hope and happiness in her, both in photos and even in recent clips from interviews with her, after years in jail. She talks so much about loving nature and saving the environment. Her crafts are beautiful and her smile bright. I wrote six letters before receiving a reply and have gotten two more since then. It is amazing to see the response some people have when I tell them I’m writing to Lynette; they get so freaked out. One of my friends said he didn’t even want to touch a letter from her because it was “creepy.” I talked to a cast member about her and he noted that I seem to grow increasingly fond of her. I agreed, full well knowing how sick it may seem to be fond of a woman who ordered others to kill people, and worshipped a madman. But don’t we as actors have to find empathy for the characters we play, try to understand where they’re coming from, and at least find PARTS of them we can love? I mean, I could’ve been her! I am more and more convinced the only reason I didn’t venture down her path of violence and hatred was because I have a loving and supportive mom and dad, while hers were a mouse and a monster… People forget that criminals are PEOPLE, not so different from the rest of us. I think what really scares people is realizing that we all have the potential to break the law, to do dangerous, scary things, to hurt others—we don’t want to admit it, but it’s true. When I was 18 (the age Lynette was when she met Charles Manson), I was very naïve, immature, curious and eager to please, to be accepted and make friends. I was like the poster child for the dangers of peer pressure; I did anything the “cool kids” were doing, just to try and be like them. I could’ve easily fallen into a life of crime and depravity had I not wanted to disappoint my parents. Lynette and even Manson were not so lucky. I’m not saying that the abuse they suffered excuses their actions, but it does explain a great deal. Anyway, the letters I have received from her confirmed my suspicions that she never tried to kill or even hurt anyone, she only wanted to scare people into paying attention to Manson and his environmental concerns. She wanted to show the government that there were people willing to risk their life to save the planet; all she ever really wanted people to do was stop polluting the earth and killing its animals. Just like all people, both law-abiding citizens and the other "Assassins" portrayed in the show, both the sane and insane, all she really wanted was to be heard and taken seriously.