It sounds like the thing supermarket tabloid headlines are made of -- "Osmonds linked to to JonBenet Ramsey case." But in an odd, roundabout sort of way, it's true.
But only sort of. As it turns out, a big chunk of the CBS miniseries "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town" was shot at the former Osmond Studios in Orem. As a matter of fact, the majority of the two-part, four-hour TV movie (Sunday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Ch. 2) was filmed in Utah."I would say 90 percent of the film you'll see was shot in Salt Lake," said executive producer Richard Waltzer in an interview with the Deseret News.
And, contrary to some reports, that's not because of opposition in Boulder, Colo., where the murder of the 5-year-old beauty queen took place more than three years ago.
"There may have been some public opposition to us filming (in Boulder), but everything that we requested of the city and county officials, they stepped up to the line and provided," said executive producer/director Lawrence Schiller, on whose book the miniseries is based.
"It's my understanding that there was an alternative newspaper trying to organize some kind of protest, but it fizzled," Waltzer said. "There was really very, very little resistance. I'm not even sure there was resistance to shooting in Boulder."
So why come to Utah?
"It's a very friendly production state," Waltzer said. "It matches Boulder very conveniently."
Local viewers will recognize sites in Salt Lake City and Sandy. They'll also recognize some local faces, including former anchorman Phil Riesen, who wanders around rather woodenly as a Ramsey family friend, and former anchorman Terry Wood, who appears briefly as a TV anchorman.
What Utahns won't recognize is some of the Colorado sites re-created locally. The interiors of the Ramsey home were built in those Orem studios; the exterior of the house was fabricated on a vacant lot in Salt Lake City.
And what no one should expect is that "Perfect Murder" will solve the crime. As Schiller is quick to point out, this movie isn't really about the murder of JonBenet Ramsey -- it's about the attempt to solve that crime. The murder itself is not dramatized, although its aftermath is vividly portrayed.
(There are tremendously disturbing scenes of the dead child -- in a state of rigor mortis -- being carried from the basement to the main floor of the Ramsey home. And equally disturbing scenes of the little girl on the autopsy table.)
"I'm not interested in the crime," Schiller said. "It's not my job to solve the crime, and I don't think I have a right to. That's the job of law enforcement -- people that are trained experts in that field.
"My job as a filmmaker and as a former journalist is to tell the story of what took place and how law enforcement finally decided that there was not enough evidence to indict anybody in the case at this time. This is a fascinating story."
Overwhelming might be a better word. The movie recounts the unbelievable behind-the-scenes battles among and between members of the Boulder police department and the local prosecutor's office. Of how each used and was used by outside forces, from the Ramseys to tabloid reporters.
It's almost too convoluted to follow. It isn't until the final hour that "Perfect" comes close to compelling. It neither exonerates nor condemns the chief suspects, John and Patsy Ramsey. JonBenet's parents are portrayed by Ronny Cox and Marg Helgenberger, who both acknowledge playing them as if they were innocent.
"I'm choosing to play Patsy innocent because I'm not going to judge what other people think that they actually did," Helgenberger said. "And I think it's just a more interesting choice to play somebody innocent than to play them guilty."
Cox admitted that he came to the project thinking the Ramseys were probably guilty.
"I think in some ways, it would be a whole lot easier to play John Ramsey if I played him as though he were guilty because then there would be a reason, however misguided, for all of the bizarre behavior. . . . I also think that if I played this guy as though I thought he was guilty, that would be be commenting on the character. And I don't think I have that right."
Schiller insisted he neither wrote the book nor directed the movie with the thought that the Ramseys were either guilty or innocent.
"Neither Marg nor Ronny Cox nor myself were in the house the night that murder took place," Schiller said. "And in this country, we have a presumption of innocence, which is very important. So I don't think any of us should judge whether Patsy or John Ramsey or any member of their family is guilty or innocent. The facts and the evidence is what judges that. And a jury will eventually make a determination of whoever is charged. I'm directing this picture based upon the historical record of what took place, how these people conducted themselves, what they said and what they did.
"And out of that, an audience will bring their own experiences to this story, and they will make up their minds."
If anything, the miniseries raises far more questions than it answers.
"Does this movie end with a bang? It doesn't," Waltzer said. "It ends more quietly, more complicated. Because that's the history of this case.
"In most cases, the more information you get the clearer the picture becomes. What's good about this is the more information people get, the less clear it becomes. And many people, including myself, had an initial judgment made about this case in the first week. We saw the pageant videos, we saw the family on CNN, we knew that they weren't talking to the police -- many of us came to certain conclusions. The more you know about the case, the less certain you will be of whatever your initial reaction was. And I think that's a real satisfying thing to bring to the public."
More satisfying for the producers than for the audience, perhaps.