The Business

Kitty Green on her unconventional documentary 'Casting JonBenet'

Kitty Green's new film, Casting JonBenet, is an experiment in nonfiction storytelling. The documentary shows a series of people from Boulder, Colorado, auditioning for roles in a movie about the infamous 1996 murder. Green never really intended to film a reenactment of the crime, but it was hard to explain to the actors what she did intend. She tells us how she got people on board and speculates on the reasons behind the country's continued fascination with the still unsolved murder.

By Kim Masters • Apr 29, 2017 • 28m Listen

Director Kitty Green's unusual documentary, Casting JonBenet, shows a series of people from Boulder, Colorado, auditioning for a movie about the infamous and still unsolved 1996 murder. Green never really intended to film a reenactment of the crime; rather she wanted to explore the country's continued fascination with it as well as the personal stories the actors might reveal as they tried out for various roles. The making the movie was emotionally intense, but not as harrowing as her experience with her first documentary, Ukraine Is Not a Brothel. For that film, Green embedded with an radical feminist group and, as a result, she says, she was abducted by the KGB. She tells us about both projects, as well as her earlier short film, Casting Oksana Baiul.

Photo: Danika Toolson, Emma Winslow, Elle Walker, Aeona Cruz, Hannah Cagwin, Liv Bagley, Shylee Sagle and Nicole Hamilton (Michael Latham/Netflix)