1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:04,480 Speaker 1: Hello to all of you out there in Hollywood Land, 2 00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: and welcome back to another dip into our archive of 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: stories at the intersection of Hollywood and true crime. This week, 4 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: we're bringing you our episode on Jodi Foster. Jody was 5 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: only twelve years old when she played a New York 6 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:20,119 Speaker 1: City sex worker in Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver. And 7 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: when Marty and the crew left that year's can Film 8 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: Festival early convinced that Taxi Driver wouldn't win anything spoiler alert, 9 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: it won the Palm Door. Jody Foster was the one 10 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: who stayed behind to handle the press. After all, she 11 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: is fluent in French. When she returned to the States 12 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,840 Speaker 1: and Taxi Driver opened, Jody found herself at the center 13 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: of a true story of life imitating art. She was 14 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,639 Speaker 1: infamously stalked by a man named John Hinckley Jr. Who 15 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: would later attempt to assassinate a US president, thinking that 16 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: in some twisted way by doing so, he would be 17 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: like taxi Drivers. Travis Pickell and save Jody Foster. Buckle 18 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: up for this incredibly disturbing true story and see if 19 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: you can spot all the allusions to the Martin Squasese 20 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: movie and then please join me later this week as 21 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: we get into this episode and the story in more 22 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: detail in the wrap party. 23 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 2: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 24 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 2: Please check the show notes for more information. Hollywoodland is 25 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 2: a production of Double Elvis. 26 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 3: Jay Wilkes Booth. He moves down the isle he had 27 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 3: measured once before. He passes Lincoln's bodyguard a nodding at 28 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 3: the door. He holds a dagger in his right hand 29 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 3: a pistol in his left. He shoots for Lincoln in 30 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,479 Speaker 3: the table and sends his soldier as. 31 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 2: The stories about Jody Foster are insane. She was nominated 32 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 2: for an Academy Award for playing a child prostitute when 33 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 2: she was only twelve. She gave a acteam to go 34 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 2: to college, where that Oscar worthy performance made her the 35 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 2: target of a deranged stalker. She was the inspiration four 36 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 2: in the motive behind the attempted assassination of a sitting 37 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 2: American President. And Jody Foster made great films, unlike that 38 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 2: clip I played you at the top of the show. 39 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 2: That wasn't from a great film, That was a fair youth. 40 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 2: Sample from the Library of Congress of Bascon Lamar Lumsford 41 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 2: performing Booth killed Lincoln in nineteen fifty two. I played 42 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 2: you that clip because I can't afford the rights to 43 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 2: a clip from Tom Cruz's Top Gun Maverick. And why 44 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,919 Speaker 2: would I play you that particular slice of second generation 45 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,799 Speaker 2: Wingman Awesomeness? Could I afford it? Because that was the 46 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 2: number one movie in America on June fifteenth, twenty twenty two, 47 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 2: and that was the day that attempted presidential assassin John 48 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:52,399 Speaker 2: Hankley Junior was released from custody on his own recognisance 49 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 2: on this episode Teenage Stardom, A deranged stalker, an attempted assassination. 50 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 2: Here Terry Wingman Awesomeness, and Jodie Foster, I'm Jake Brennan 51 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 2: and this is Hollywood Land. The credits rolled As the 52 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 2: lights came up. Half the audience inside the Egyptian Theater applauded, 53 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 2: and the other half walked out disgusted. John Hinckley Junior 54 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 2: sat glued to his seat, blinking like an owl in daylight. 55 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 2: He couldn't believe what he just saw. That was him 56 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 2: up there on the screen. Marin Scorsese's Taxi Driver was 57 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 2: his story. Hinkley went home and started keeping a diary, 58 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 2: just like Travis Bickle in the movie. The next night 59 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 2: he went back to The Egyptian and saw it again. 60 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 2: And the day after that, John Hinckley bought himself a 61 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 2: gun he needed four, just like the guy in the movie. 62 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 2: Over the next few weeks he saw the movie fifteen times. 63 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 2: The kid at the box office gave him lip about it, 64 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 2: but Hinckley didn't give a shit. He was overcome by 65 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 2: this portrayal of an obsessive loaner plagued by insomnia with 66 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 2: the potential to cause absolute carnage. God's a lonely man. 67 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 2: And then there was the one person in the world 68 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 2: that he could talk to, an underage prostitute played by 69 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 2: a twelve year old Jody Foster. Hinkley was a college 70 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 2: drop up. He was trying and failing to make it 71 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 2: as a songwriter, and by day schlepped demos to studios 72 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:56,599 Speaker 2: and record companies, and by night he went back to 73 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 2: the Egyptian and shelled out the money to see Taxi 74 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 2: Driver again and again. He looked up at the screen 75 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 2: and watched Robert de Niro as Travis Bickle, only now 76 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:08,280 Speaker 2: it no longer looked like Robert de Niro. It looked 77 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 2: like himself. John Hinckley Hinckley was Travis Bickle. Bickle had 78 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 2: an easy rapport with the character Jody Foster played. Hinkley 79 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 2: knew that he and Jody Foster would have that same 80 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 2: rapport if they could only meet. He dreamed about running 81 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 2: into her on the streets of La. She'd see him 82 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 2: for who he really was, and then everything, everything in 83 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 2: this fucked up, useless life would become perfect. But La 84 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 2: was too big for a coincidence like that to fall 85 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 2: in his lap. John Hinckley never had a chance to 86 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 2: meet Jody Foster. That is until a few years later, 87 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,360 Speaker 2: in May nineteen eighty, when Jody Foster announced she was 88 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 2: stepping away from acting to pursue a degree at Yale. 89 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 2: Compared to Los Angeles, New Haven and the Yale campus 90 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:00,800 Speaker 2: were tiny, she'd be much easier to find. Hinckley lied 91 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 2: and told his parents he had been accepted into a 92 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 2: writing workshop at Yale. He sold off stock in his 93 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 2: father's oil company, and when Jodie Foster's freshman year began, 94 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:13,720 Speaker 2: he rented a small apartment off campus. He wrote about 95 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 2: her endlessly in his diary, and then he saw her 96 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 2: like she'd stepped off the big screen and into his life, 97 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 2: walking with friends between classes. She was eighteen now, but 98 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 2: to Hinckley, she'd always be the girl she was in 99 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 2: the movie, Innocent but street wise, someone he could protect, 100 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 2: someone he could love. Problem was, he just couldn't bring 101 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,720 Speaker 2: himself to talk to her. The moment was never right. 102 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 2: He followed her to class, to the coffee shop, and 103 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 2: back to her dorm. He left poems in her mailbox. 104 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 2: He found her phone number, and he set up a 105 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 2: tape recorder so he could preserve the call forever. He 106 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 2: imagined he and Jody would play it back when they 107 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,840 Speaker 2: were older and think about the earliest days of their 108 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,559 Speaker 2: love for one another. And they'd even play the tapes 109 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 2: for their kids. But when Hankley copped being the one 110 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 2: who left notes in her mailbox, the phone call took 111 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 2: a turn for the worse. Am I supposed to know you? 112 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 2: She asked him. Hankley stammered, and Judy Foster quickly hung up. 113 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 2: It took him days to work up the nerve to 114 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 2: call back. She told him to stop calling, stop leaving 115 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 2: shit in her mailbox too, and on her doorstep. I'm 116 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 2: not dangerous, he said, she never said he was, but 117 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 2: if she wasn't thinking it before. 118 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: She was. 119 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 2: Now in the background, Hankley heard Foster's roommates laughing. He asked, 120 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 2: what was so funny but laughing at you? John? This time, 121 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 2: Hinckley hung up. This approach wasn't working. In his diary, 122 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 2: he listed other ways to win her hurt. He could 123 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,440 Speaker 2: hijack a plane. He could kill himself in front of 124 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 2: her door. And then he asked himself, what would Travis 125 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 2: Bickle do well? Travis Bickle might try to kill President 126 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 2: Jimmy Carter. On October second, nineteen eighty, Hinckley flew to 127 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 2: a harder campaign rally in Dayton. He had three revolvers 128 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,239 Speaker 2: at his luggage. He stashed them at a nearby bus station. 129 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 2: He just wanted to get a feel for it, how 130 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 2: close he could get and if he would be searched. 131 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 2: He was able to get close, real close, and arms 132 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 2: along the way from the president. No one searched anything. 133 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 2: He could a diet right then and there if he 134 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 2: had the guns on him, and then Jody Foster wouldn't know. 135 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 2: He followed the Carter campaign to Nashville, ready to follow 136 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 2: through this time, but he got spooked something about it 137 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 2: didn't feel right. In the airport headed back to New Haven. 138 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 2: His suitcase got searched and the cops found the three guns, 139 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 2: plus a box of ammunition in a pair of handcuffs. 140 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 2: They didn't find his diary, the diary that laid out 141 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 2: his plan to assassinate President Jimmy Carter to impress Jody Foster. 142 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 2: The cops took the guns and let him off with 143 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:51,959 Speaker 2: a fine, and when he got home he burned the 144 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,439 Speaker 2: journal in his sink, and as soon as he could, 145 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 2: he bought more guns. John Hinckley spent the next few 146 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:00,559 Speaker 2: months flying back and forth between his arrett's home in 147 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 2: Colorado in New Haven, Connecticut. He would stalk Foster for 148 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 2: a few weeks, then get depressed and fly home. He 149 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 2: sent a letter to the FBI warning them Jody Foster 150 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,320 Speaker 2: was going to be kidnapped from her dorm for romantic reasons, 151 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 2: and then he swallowed a bottleful of antidepressants and wound 152 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 2: up in the hospital. When the psychiatrist asked if Hinckley 153 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,959 Speaker 2: had anything to live for, he said two things, writing 154 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 2: and Jody Foster. When he got out of the hospital, 155 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 2: he flew back to New Haven. He left a note 156 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 2: on Jody Foster's store again just wait, get read. I'll 157 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 2: rescue you very soon. In November, Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy 158 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 2: Carter in the presidential election, Hankley shifted his sights. He 159 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 2: went to d C to stalk the president elect. Reagan 160 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:48,839 Speaker 2: was living temporarily in Blairhouse on the other side of 161 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 2: Pennsylvania Avenue Undersecret Service protection. Hankley loitered out front. That's 162 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 2: where he was on December eighth, nineteen eighty, when news broke. 163 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 2: Then another obsessed gunman named Mark Daavid Chapman shot John 164 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 2: Lennon dead in New York City. Hankley had once felt 165 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 2: a connection with Beatle John, but as he abandoned his 166 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 2: stake out of Reagan and hopped the bus from DC 167 00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 2: to New York to attend a visil, he now felt 168 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:17,480 Speaker 2: a kinship with someone else. With Lenin's assassin, Mark David Chapman, 169 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 2: John Hinckley imagined himself hijacking a plane landing in on 170 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 2: Yale's campus to pick up Jody Foster and then forcing 171 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,199 Speaker 2: President Ronald Reagan to resign so he and Foster could 172 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,839 Speaker 2: live in the White House. He bought a postcard of 173 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 2: the First Family. On the back, he wrote, Dear Jody, 174 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,320 Speaker 2: don't they make a darling couple. Nancy is downright sexy. 175 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 2: One day you and I will occupy the White House 176 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:43,319 Speaker 2: and the peasants will drool with envy. But he didn't 177 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,800 Speaker 2: send it. He slipped it into one of his books. 178 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 2: He always carried books with him when he traveled, like 179 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 2: a small red covered copy of The Catcher in the Rye, 180 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,719 Speaker 2: the same book mark David Chapman had been carrying when 181 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 2: he shot John Lennon. Hankley's parents got tired of them 182 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,360 Speaker 2: flying back and forth on their and they got tired 183 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,400 Speaker 2: of his zombie ass appearing at their home looking for 184 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 2: a place to recover, so they cut him off and 185 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,679 Speaker 2: kicked him out. All his failures rolled into one giant 186 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 2: fuck up until the only thing that made sense was 187 00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 2: to go to New Haven one last time and shoot 188 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 2: himself in the goddamn head. So he bought a bus 189 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:20,080 Speaker 2: stick to DC rode for three days with his books, 190 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 2: two revolvers, and six devastator bullets, so called because they 191 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 2: have a devastating explosive lead compound inside the tip. Hinkley 192 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:30,080 Speaker 2: had those devastators so that he could go out with 193 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,160 Speaker 2: a big bang. When he offed himself in front of 194 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 2: Jody Foster. He checked into a shitty hotel for the night, 195 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:38,960 Speaker 2: pig Cash, and the next morning he woke up and 196 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 2: got ready to hop the next bus to New Haven. First, 197 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,839 Speaker 2: he picked up a copy of that morning's Washington Star newspaper. 198 00:11:45,559 --> 00:11:49,239 Speaker 2: Inside was the president's itinerary for the day. The presidential 199 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 2: motorcade was going to shut down a lot of streets. 200 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 2: Ronald Reagan had only one public event planned, a speech 201 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 2: to union members at the help him, and that place 202 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:02,040 Speaker 2: was near Hinkley's hotel practice down the block. Fuck at 203 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,599 Speaker 2: the knew an could wait. John Hankley, He's going to 204 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 2: assassinate the president. Paul Schrader couldn't sleep. Whenever he shut 205 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:38,320 Speaker 2: his eyes, he saw a blinking neon sign that said failure. 206 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,680 Speaker 2: His marriage was falling apart, and the affair that was 207 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 2: causing his marriage to fall apart was falling apart. He 208 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 2: got into an argument with his mentor, legendary film critic 209 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 2: Pauline Kale, as well as with the American Film Institute 210 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,000 Speaker 2: where he happened to be working. He had no money 211 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:00,319 Speaker 2: and no apartment. He was living out of his car night. 212 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 2: He drove around, la headlights of other cars slicing into 213 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:06,440 Speaker 2: his eyes, but when he could no longer drive straight, 214 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:09,559 Speaker 2: he parked in front of the Pussycat Theater, a porno 215 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 2: movie house on Santa Monica Boulevard that stayed open all night. 216 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 2: He paid for a ticket and crashed out in the 217 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,079 Speaker 2: seats while the other patrons jerked off to a so 218 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 2: called European art house movie. He woke up in the 219 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 2: hospital with a bleeding ulcer. Laid up in recovery, sober 220 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 2: for the first time in weeks, he imagined a character 221 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,679 Speaker 2: a lot like himself, a loner, isolated in the middle 222 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 2: of a crowded city, driving the streets all night, sleeping 223 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:42,640 Speaker 2: in porno theaters. Alienated, cut off from real human contact, 224 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 2: the man turned to deadly violence. Paul Schrader knew he 225 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 2: had two choices right about that guy or ended up 226 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 2: becoming that guy. When he got out of the hospital, 227 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 2: Schrader laid alad the gun on his desk next to 228 00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:59,600 Speaker 2: his typewriter. Over the next two weeks, he hammered out 229 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:02,840 Speaker 2: multiple drafts at the screenplay that would become Taxi Driver. 230 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,960 Speaker 2: Their early drafts were dark, with me entering like Schrader 231 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 2: had been. They wandered inglessly, lacking purpose. Then Schrader found 232 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 2: the story that catalyzed his idea, in a book called 233 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 2: an Assassin's Diary. The original manuscript of that diary was 234 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:22,400 Speaker 2: found during a police search of a nineteen sixty seven 235 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 2: amc rambler. Its first entry on March first, nineteen seventy two, read, 236 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 2: it is my personal plan to assassinate by pistol either 237 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 2: Richard Nixon or George Wallace. The diaries author was an unemployed, 238 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 2: mentally unbalanced loaner named Arthur Breamer. Over the next one 239 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 2: hundred and fifty pages, Breamer recounted in detail a sexual 240 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 2: encounter with a masseuse, an exchange with a customs agent 241 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 2: at the Canadian border, and repeated attempts to assassinate President Nixon. 242 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 2: But Breamer couldn't get close enough to Nixon to do 243 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 2: the job. He didn't have any real politics to speak 244 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 2: of except for hating the hell out of all politicians, 245 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,000 Speaker 2: and you know who can really blame him? But he 246 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 2: turned his attention to George Wallace, less exciting target but 247 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:07,280 Speaker 2: easier to get a shot at. He checked out books 248 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 2: about rfk's assassination from the local library. He volunteered on 249 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:14,440 Speaker 2: the Wallace campaign and attended several rallies with the candidate. 250 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 2: At a rally in the Mall in Maryland, rumors stood 251 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 2: out like a sore thumb, dressed in red, white and 252 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 2: blue with a massive campaign button that red Wallace in 253 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 2: seventy two. He stood out because the rest of the 254 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:29,680 Speaker 2: crowd was there to heckle George Wallace as governor of Alabama. 255 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 2: Wallace campaign on a policy of segregation now, segregation tomorrow, 256 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:40,080 Speaker 2: segregation forever. That is an actual quote. Maryland Democrats weren't 257 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,800 Speaker 2: hearing that. A tomato came flying at Wallace out of 258 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 2: the crowd and splattered on the stage a few feet 259 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 2: away in a wet red splotch, and then came another 260 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 2: even farther off the mark. It was enough to convince 261 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 2: Wallace to skip the handshase at the ropeline. Afterward, he 262 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 2: got into a waiting limo and his entourage sped him 263 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 2: to another mall. In his nineteen sixty seven A mc 264 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 2: rambler Arthur Bremer followed in the reception at the second 265 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 2: rally was warmer, but Secret Service advised Wallace to skip 266 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 2: the rope line. Wallace insisted he was a man of 267 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 2: the people. He didn't become president without pressing the flesh, 268 00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:18,560 Speaker 2: So Wallace shook hands with dozens of supporters as Arthur 269 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 2: Bremer pushed his way through the craft. Breamer planned to 270 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 2: say a penny for your thoughts as he shot the Kennedy, 271 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 2: sort of his own take on John Wilkes Booth's sixth 272 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 2: Sympath Trannis line, but at the last minute he froze 273 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 2: up over here, mister Wallace, not a line that will 274 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 2: live in history. Arthur Bremer fired five shots, four connected. 275 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 2: One of those four bullets launched itself in George Wallace's 276 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 2: spinal cord, paralyzing him for life. Breemer was wrestled to 277 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 2: the ground and arrested. A search of his rambler turned 278 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:52,640 Speaker 2: up a nine millimeter a pair of binoculars. In the 279 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 2: books about RFK and the Diary, Paul Schrader grafted Arthur 280 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 2: Bremer's story onto the character he was working on, a 281 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 2: veteran named Travis Bickle, who takes a job as a 282 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 2: New York City cave as asal for his insomnia. He 283 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 2: even had Bickle keep a diary with rambling observations that 284 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:15,240 Speaker 2: mirrored those of Wallace's would be assassin. The resulting screenplay 285 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 2: ended up in the hands of Martin Scorsese, haled off 286 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 2: of a cult head with Mean Streets featuring a young 287 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 2: Robert de Niro. Scorsese wanted Dustin Hoffman to play Travis Spickel, 288 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,320 Speaker 2: but Hoffman read the screenplay and thought Marty was fucking nut, 289 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:31,440 Speaker 2: so de Niro took the role. Sybil Shephard was cast 290 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,280 Speaker 2: as the object of Bickle's fucked up affectionate. That left 291 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:37,800 Speaker 2: only one major part to be cast, Iris, the street 292 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,400 Speaker 2: wise but sweet child sex worker that Bickle is determined 293 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,680 Speaker 2: to save in the film. Two hundred girls tried out 294 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 2: for that part, Carrie Fisher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bo Derek, and 295 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:53,200 Speaker 2: twelve year old Jody Foster. The role was a major 296 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 2: turning point for the young actress. This wasn't another copper 297 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 2: tone commercial or another call for another tomboy in a 298 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 2: live action Disney movie. For the first time in her career, 299 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,880 Speaker 2: Jodie Foster had the chance to play a character who 300 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:09,160 Speaker 2: wasn't almost identical to her actual personality. The Los Angeles 301 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:11,639 Speaker 2: Board of Child Welfare insisted that if an actress that 302 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 2: young was going to take on such a sexually explicit role, 303 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:18,919 Speaker 2: she needed to go through counseling beforehand. The production was 304 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:22,160 Speaker 2: already running up against tight deadlines, and the producers hired 305 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,720 Speaker 2: Pat Brown, former governor of California, to smooth things over 306 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 2: and speed them along. Part of the arrangement was that 307 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:32,919 Speaker 2: for any shots deemed too explicit, Jodi Foster's older sister, 308 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 2: who was eighteen, would body double for her. Robert de 309 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:38,640 Speaker 2: Niro got to New York ahead of time and took 310 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,399 Speaker 2: a job driving a cab at night. The production crew 311 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:45,359 Speaker 2: built Bickel and Iris's apartments and condemned buildings. Parts of 312 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 2: town so dangerous that they hired a local gang to 313 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,280 Speaker 2: protect the set from other gangs. And when Foster got 314 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,320 Speaker 2: to New York, she and de Niro went out to 315 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 2: diners to go over the script. De Niro was already 316 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:01,159 Speaker 2: locked into his character, awkward, barely verbal. Jody Foster was 317 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 2: just a kid. She was used to playing herself on 318 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,119 Speaker 2: screen in these weird half dates with Travis Bickle. Border 319 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,440 Speaker 2: then she started to get it. The two began to improvise, 320 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 2: riffing off of each other, building the relationship that would 321 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,760 Speaker 2: play out on screen. Taxi Driver made its debut in 322 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,479 Speaker 2: New York and was invited to Can. Reactions to the 323 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 2: movie were decidedly mixed. It barely avoided an X rating. 324 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 2: Scorsese had to blur out the porn on screen in 325 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:31,520 Speaker 2: the theater scenes and desaturate the red of the blood 326 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:34,200 Speaker 2: and the final sequence, and the violence was too shocking 327 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 2: for some audience members, including the playwright Tennessee Williams, who 328 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 2: was head of the festival jury. He said Taxi Driver 329 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 2: would win over his dead body. Convinced he'd be going 330 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:49,360 Speaker 2: home empty handed, Scorsese left Cam before the prizes were announced. 331 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:52,240 Speaker 2: He was back in Los Angeles when his publicists called 332 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 2: him at five in the morning. Taxi Driver won the 333 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 2: Palm d'ur, the highest jury prize at CAN, beating out 334 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 2: films by d Luchi, Polanski, and Bergman. Back in the States, 335 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,119 Speaker 2: Taxi Driver went into wider release. It opened up The 336 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 2: Egyptian in Los Angeles, where a struggling songwriter bought a 337 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 2: ticket and saw himself in Robert De Niro's character. But 338 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 2: it wasn't the stunning Hollywood bombshell he fell in love with. Instead, 339 00:20:21,119 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 2: he was the twelve year old girl We'll be right 340 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:38,119 Speaker 2: back after this. We were were. John Hinckley laid on 341 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:41,040 Speaker 2: the bed in Room three one two the Park Central Hotel, 342 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 2: staring at the ceiling in the morning edition of The 343 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 2: Washington Star, the one that included President Regan's itinery for 344 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,879 Speaker 2: the day, was on the bed next to him. The 345 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 2: idea had been growing in Hinckley's brain for some time. 346 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:59,160 Speaker 2: True force the White House was impenetrable. He understood that now, 347 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,440 Speaker 2: after all the hours spent waiting outside hoping to catch 348 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,359 Speaker 2: a glimpse of his target. That's how things were New 349 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 2: Haven too. He'd walked up to Jodie Foster's door so 350 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 2: many times, but he couldn't knock, couldn't go inside when 351 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:15,880 Speaker 2: he wanted to see her. Had had to be out 352 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,679 Speaker 2: in the world on our way to class, out with friends, 353 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 2: always that distance between them. She was up on the 354 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,560 Speaker 2: screen and he was in the audience. If she could 355 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:30,680 Speaker 2: just see him, then there couldn't be any distance for this. 356 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,639 Speaker 2: For all his practice, Hinckley was a poor shot. If 357 00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:37,639 Speaker 2: he was going to hit Reagan, he had to be 358 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 2: close right next to him in the frame on the screen. 359 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 2: John Hinckley coming to you live from Washington, DC. He 360 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 2: smiled at the thought Jody seeing him on the news, 361 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,959 Speaker 2: Jody knowing it was all for her. This was the moment, 362 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 2: the day everything was becoming a reality. The days went 363 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 2: on and on, they didn't end. All his life needed 364 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 2: was a sense of some place to go. He would 365 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,720 Speaker 2: become a person like other people. A shadow of bout 366 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,520 Speaker 2: hit him. What if she didn't know? What if he 367 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,120 Speaker 2: went through all this and she still didn't understand him, 368 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 2: And there were so many people around her, between her 369 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 2: and him, and they were the ones who laughed, and 370 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 2: they were the ones who told her not to talk 371 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:24,639 Speaker 2: to strangers. What if they got in her head and 372 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,120 Speaker 2: told her that it wasn't all for her. He had 373 00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 2: to tell her. He had to be sure. Hankley rolled 374 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 2: off the floral printed sheets and walked barefoot across the 375 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:38,399 Speaker 2: brown industrial carpet. He sat at the little desk. He 376 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 2: looked for a minute at the suitcase lying open on 377 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 2: the floor. He'd been traveling so long. Loneliness had followed 378 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:50,480 Speaker 2: him his whole life, everywhere, in bars and cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere, 379 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,480 Speaker 2: and there was no escape. He was God's lonely man. 380 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 2: And the gun glowed under the hotel room's fluorescent lights, 381 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 2: and then he picked up his ben. Dear Jody, I 382 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:04,880 Speaker 2: feel very good about the fact that you at least 383 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,400 Speaker 2: know my name and know how I feel about you. 384 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 2: I've got to do something now to make you understand 385 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 2: in no uncertain terms that I'm doing all of this 386 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:18,400 Speaker 2: for your sake, Jody. I'm asking you to please look 387 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 2: into your heart and at least give the chance with 388 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 2: this historical deed to gain you love and respect. I 389 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:31,679 Speaker 2: love you forever, John Hinckley. He folded the letter and 390 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,280 Speaker 2: slipped it into his suitcase, and he picked up the 391 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:37,879 Speaker 2: twenty two and loaded it with the hollow points. Now 392 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,560 Speaker 2: he saw this clearly. His whole life was pointed in 393 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,160 Speaker 2: one direction, and there never had been a choice for him. 394 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,080 Speaker 2: He hailed a cab out front of his hotel. He 395 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 2: sat in the backseat, felt a weird sense of vertigo. 396 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 2: The cabby turned around, and for a moment, Ankley saw 397 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 2: Travis Bickle looking back at him. Head shaved to a 398 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:03,679 Speaker 2: mohawk hollow stare the caveast where he was headed, and 399 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 2: the illusion shattered. The Hilton on Connecticut in his pocket. 400 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 2: Hankley's hand gripped the twenty two, the white house faded 401 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,159 Speaker 2: in the rear view as they turned on the seventeenth Street. 402 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:22,160 Speaker 2: They rolled past brownstones and embassies, through DuPont Circle, where 403 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 2: hippie drug dealers sold ditch weed, a so called artists 404 00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:28,879 Speaker 2: and so called musicians. The city was like an open 405 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 2: sewer full of filth and scum. Sometimes he could hardly 406 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,879 Speaker 2: take it. The President should clean up this whole mess, 407 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 2: should flush it down the fucking toilet. There was a 408 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 2: small crowd already gathered outside the Hilton. Reagan was popular. 409 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,919 Speaker 2: He was turning the country around morning in America. Hankley 410 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 2: blended into the crowd. That's where Arthur Bremer and Travis 411 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,480 Speaker 2: Bicklem made their mistakes, with their red, white and blue 412 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 2: outfits and their mocks. They stood out, not Hinkley in 413 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,639 Speaker 2: his bag, with his slum shoulders and sleepy expression. No 414 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 2: one looked at John Hankley twice God's lonely man. The 415 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 2: hotel was massive and sprawling in its heyday, Hendrix and 416 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 2: the Doors played the ballroom. But Jimmy Hendrix was dead, 417 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 2: and Jim Morrison was dead, and John Lennon was dead. 418 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 2: And John Hankley wondered what his idols would say when 419 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 2: he met them. Would they be impressed with what he'd done? 420 00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 2: Would she? The President and his entourage came out of 421 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,239 Speaker 2: the building, greeted by cheers. Hankley stood as near as 422 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 2: he could to the presidential limo behind the rope barrier. 423 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,200 Speaker 2: He had to wait, had to get closer, He had 424 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 2: to be in the frame. The President shook hands and 425 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 2: posed for pictures. He was only a few yards away, 426 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 2: but it was taking forever. John Hankley took the twenty 427 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 2: two out of his coat pocket. As the President made 428 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,879 Speaker 2: his way to the limo, Hankley raised the gun. He 429 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,439 Speaker 2: wished he thought of something to say. He fired. The 430 00:26:01,440 --> 00:26:04,440 Speaker 2: first shot hit Press Secretary James Brady in the head. 431 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 2: Brady dropped to the sidewalk. A DC cop pivoted to 432 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 2: shield the president. Hankley fired again, hitting the cop in 433 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:13,640 Speaker 2: the back of the neck. The gun was a live 434 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 2: thing in his hand, struggling against him. The next shot 435 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 2: went into the air over the President's head. Hankley took 436 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 2: a breath, regained control, and he shot a Secret Service 437 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 2: agent in the gun. He fired again and again. The 438 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,560 Speaker 2: shot was wild, shattering the window of the limousine. He 439 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,200 Speaker 2: was fucking it all up. Why would anyone fall in 440 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 2: love with a guy who was fucking it all up? 441 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,359 Speaker 2: A guy who shot at the president, who didn't shoot 442 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 2: the president. Hankley had one shot left. He steadied his arm, 443 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 2: he pulled the trigger, and he shot Ronald Reagan in 444 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 2: the chest. The bullet grazed Reagan's rib and lodged into 445 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,240 Speaker 2: his long inches from his heart. Raw Hi down, a 446 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 2: Secret Service agent was shouting and using Reagan's codename. Agents 447 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:00,840 Speaker 2: paunched Hinkley in the gun and shot him against the wall. 448 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,960 Speaker 2: The spent gun fell from his hand. He'd done it, 449 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,359 Speaker 2: and Jody Foster would know it was all for her. 450 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,439 Speaker 2: The oscars were supposed to be held that night, but 451 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,480 Speaker 2: they were pushed to the following night because of the 452 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 2: assassination attempt. At the next night ceremony, Martin Scorsese applauded 453 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 2: as Robert Redford beat him out for Best Director. Someone 454 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,639 Speaker 2: pulled Scorsese aside asked him if he'd heard the news 455 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 2: the guy who shot Reagan the night before, who was 456 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:34,919 Speaker 2: obsessed with Jody Foster. The guy said Taxi driver was 457 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:39,400 Speaker 2: his inspiration. In New Haven, Jody Foster got home late 458 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,399 Speaker 2: from her first stage performance. Before she could get the 459 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 2: key in the lock. Her roommate opened the door and 460 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:50,200 Speaker 2: her face was pale. John, she said, John Who. Foster asked, 461 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,919 Speaker 2: John Hinckley, did he write me again? Jody wanted to 462 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,120 Speaker 2: know it had been a few weeks, and Foster hoped, 463 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 2: maybe your stalker and moved on. He's the one, her 464 00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 2: roommate said. The phone was ringing inside the apartment. Foster 465 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:06,680 Speaker 2: went inside to answer it. Her dean was on the 466 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 2: other end of the line, and the FBI wanted to 467 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 2: talk to her. They had a letter for her from 468 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:35,760 Speaker 2: John Hinckley. John Hinckley didn't realize he was being followed. 469 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,560 Speaker 2: It was a hot day in July twenty eleven, and 470 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,280 Speaker 2: Hankley was on a mall in Williamsburg, Virginia, where his 471 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,000 Speaker 2: mother lived. He was now entitled to extended time out 472 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 2: of the DC Mental Hospital, where he'd been confined since 473 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 2: he tried to kill Ronald Reagan. The doctors at Saint 474 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 2: Elizabeth said his depression and psychotic disorder were in remission. 475 00:28:56,080 --> 00:29:00,720 Speaker 2: It is a narcissistic personality disorder had receded. Hankley was 476 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 2: no longer a threat, but there were rules. He wasn't 477 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 2: supposed to be anywhere near a president. Like any president, 478 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 2: he couldn't be in DC unless he was in the hospital. 479 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 2: He couldn't visit his sister in Dallas, too close to 480 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 2: George W. Bush. Hankley's mother moved to nearby Williamsburg so 481 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 2: that he could spend time with her. On this day, 482 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 2: she dropped him off at the movies. He was planning 483 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,360 Speaker 2: on seeing Captain America. It was all written down somewhere, 484 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 2: all scheduled, but as soon as his mother drove off, 485 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 2: Hinckley changed the plan. He wandered off into the mall 486 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,880 Speaker 2: with two Secret Service agents trailing him. They followed him 487 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:40,920 Speaker 2: into a Barnes and Noble and watched him browse through 488 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 2: books about music. He drifted over to the American history 489 00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 2: section and seemed to fixate on one particular shelf. After 490 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:51,400 Speaker 2: Hankley moved on, one of the agents went to see 491 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 2: what book he'd been staring at. He was called Rawhide 492 00:29:55,560 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 2: down the near assassination of Ronald Reagan. The next day, 493 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:04,880 Speaker 2: John Hinckley returned to Saint Elizabeths Hospital and raved about 494 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:07,600 Speaker 2: the movie he hadn't gone to see, and then he 495 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 2: talked about his plans for the next time. He was 496 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 2: released At his nineteen eighty two trial, John Hinckley pled 497 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 2: not guilty by reason of insanity. The insanity defense had 498 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 2: a long association with assassins. It was created in response 499 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 2: to the case of a Scottish woodworker who tried to 500 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 2: kill the Prime Minister of England in eighteen forty three 501 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,880 Speaker 2: because he thought the Prime Minister was conspiring against him. 502 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:34,960 Speaker 2: It was used again when Charlie Yito shot and killed 503 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:39,120 Speaker 2: President Garfield in eighteen eighty one because God told him to. Supposedly, 504 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:43,280 Speaker 2: he invoked the insanity defense as well, unsuccessfully as it 505 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 2: was in that case. At Hinckley's trial, the prosecution led 506 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 2: with the facts. They walked the jury through the day 507 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:53,040 Speaker 2: of the shooting. They tried to get President Reagan to testify, 508 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 2: but Ronnie wasn't having it. They had to settle for 509 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,600 Speaker 2: the cop and the Secret Service agent Hinckley shot trying 510 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 2: to get out Reagan. They showed the jury the shooting 511 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,240 Speaker 2: dummies Hinckley had used for target practice back in Colorado, 512 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:08,360 Speaker 2: and they made it clear this crime was planned, calculated, 513 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:13,959 Speaker 2: and then the defense team brought in Jody Foster. Foster 514 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 2: testified in a closed session. The press wasn't allowed access 515 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 2: to those recordings, but they did get the recordings of 516 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:23,720 Speaker 2: Hinckley's phone calls to her, along with his poems and 517 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 2: the letter he wrote to her hours before the assassination. 518 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,320 Speaker 2: They painted a picture of a man obsessed, a man 519 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,480 Speaker 2: completely out of touch with reality. When they played the 520 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:37,240 Speaker 2: video of Foster saying she had no relationship with Hinckley, 521 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:39,680 Speaker 2: Hankley jumped out of his seat and stormed out of 522 00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 2: the court room. Along with Hinckley's romantic obsession with Foster, 523 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,960 Speaker 2: they explained his identification with Travis Bickle and this wasn't 524 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:50,760 Speaker 2: a man who could tell when the movie ended in 525 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 2: real life began. Over the objections of the prosecutors, the 526 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,760 Speaker 2: defense closed out their argument by making the jury watch 527 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 2: Taxi Driver in its entirety. After hours of deliberation, the 528 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 2: jury found John Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity 529 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:08,680 Speaker 2: and because he was deemed a threat to others. Though 530 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 2: he was placed in the custody of Saint Elizabeth's Hospital 531 00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty seven, John Hankley's family made the first 532 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,040 Speaker 2: formal request to review him for possible release for home visits. 533 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 2: He met with psychiatrists and submitted to having his room 534 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 2: at the hospital searched, they found more poems and letters 535 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 2: to Jodie Foster, letters between Hanckley and serial killer Ted Bundy, 536 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 2: and even evidence that he'd been trying to get in 537 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 2: touch with Charles Manson. Hankley's request for home visits was denied, 538 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 2: but then in two thousand and three, Hankley was cleared 539 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 2: for occasional supervised home visits with his mother. Despite some 540 00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 2: mildly shady behavior, he was eventually given a full release 541 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:54,240 Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two. Today, he lives in a one 542 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 2: bedroom apartment in Williamsburg. He's trying to get his music 543 00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 2: career going. Even before his reis he booked a gig 544 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:03,920 Speaker 2: at a bar in Brooklyn that ended up canceling due 545 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 2: to safety concerns. Hinckley claimed they'd already sold five hundred 546 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 2: tickets and the venue only holds four hundred people. Other 547 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,960 Speaker 2: bookings fell through. Venues announced gigs with Hinckley and then 548 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 2: canceled in the face of threats. For her part, Jodie 549 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:22,560 Speaker 2: Foster has rarely talked about the shootings. She's built a 550 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,080 Speaker 2: legendary career entirely on her own without ever falling under 551 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 2: the shadow of John Ankley. Jor but he's still out 552 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 2: there casting that shadow, walking the streets, staring at thirty 553 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 2: thousand YouTube subscribers with that hollow stare, and trying to 554 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 2: tell a story, a story that ought to be in pictures. 555 00:33:45,880 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan in This is hollywood Land. Hollywood Land 556 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,480 Speaker 2: was created by Years Truly and is produced in partnership 557 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 2: with Double Elvis. Follow like, rate, and review Hollywoodland wherever 558 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:12,440 Speaker 2: you get your podcasts, and get in touch with us 559 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:16,160 Speaker 2: on social media at double Elvis. If you like hollywood Land, 560 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:19,080 Speaker 2: check out my other show, the award winning Disgraceland, which 561 00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:20,880 Speaker 2: looks at the world of music through the lens of 562 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,719 Speaker 2: true crime. Just search for Disgraceland or wherever you get 563 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 2: your podcasts. 564 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:31,399 Speaker 3: Good God, A lat