Luigi Mangione is the new true crime obsession. Here are the 3 upcoming documentaries about him.
- Luigi Mangione was charged last week over the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
- The race is on to be the first to make a true crime show about him.
- Two documentaries and an hourlong special have been announced so far.
True crime has a new protagonist: Luigi Mangione.
Since Mangione was arrested and charged with murder last week over the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the media and public have been mining information about his past, including by scouring his social media accounts, to learn every detail about his life.
This week, news outlets reported that three documentaries about the 26-year-old and the shooting were in the works.
Thompson was shot and killed by a masked person outside a Manhattan hotel on December 4. Mangione was arrested on December 9 after being found in a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and later faced local gun and forgery charges alongside the murder charge.
The shooting has had a huge cultural impact, sparking conversations about what is seen as the normalization of violence in the US and the state of the healthcare system. It seemed inevitable that true crime shows would follow at a time when the genre's popularity is at its height.
After pictures of Mangione emerged following the shooting, some X users joked that Ryan Murphy, who is behind true crime dramas including "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story," would make a show about him. Others speculated which actors should portray Mangione.
Here's what we know about the upcoming projects.
An Oscar-winning director's production company is making a documentary about Thompson's death
On Monday, Variety reported that entertainment production companies Anonymous Content and Jigsaw Productions were teaming up on a documentary about the shooting.
Variety reported the documentary will explore how people become killers and American citizens' frustration with the healthcare industry.
Jigsaw Productions is led by Alex Gibney, who in 2008 won an Oscar for best feature documentary for "Taxi to the Dark Side." Gibney is also working on a documentary about Elon Musk.
Emmy nominee Stephen Robert Morse's documentary will explore different perspectives on the shooting
Hours later, Variety reported that filmmaker Stephen Robert Morse, an Emmy-nominated producer, was making a separate documentary about Mangione.
Morse will work with Matt Cianfrani, a cinematographer, Hannah Ghorashi, an investigative journalist, and Eli Eisenstein, a filmmaker who went to Mangione's college, the University of Pennsylvania.
Morse told Variety that the doc will explore various perspectives surrounding the killing "while respecting the profound loss of life and its impact on everyone involved."
Morse told Deadline Monday that the film would be "memed" but encourage a deeper understanding of the case.
Last week, Morse Code Group, Morse's production company, set up an Instagram page and invited Thompson and Mangione's family, friends, and co-workers to share their stories.
In the caption of their first post, the company wrote: "If you have a story to share about your experience with Luigi Mangione, Brian Thompson, United Healthcare, or US health insurance generally, please get in touch with us!"
Warner Bros. Discovery's true crime network is working on 'Who Is Luigi Mangione?'
On Monday, Variety also reported that Investigation Discovery, Warner Bros. Discovery's true crime network, will release an hourlong special about the Mangione case in February 2025.
Variety said the project's working title is "Who Is Luigi Mangione?"
A representative for Investigation Discovery told Variety that the special will feature the TV host Dan Abrams, experts, industry insiders, and people close to Mangione to explore "his mental state" and "investigate the theories" surrounding his arrest.
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Luigi Mangione is the new true crime obsession. Here are the 3 upcoming documentaries about him.
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