HOLLYWOOD — Producer Mark Wolper knew that if he was going to remake "Helter Skelter," the entire production would hinge on one thing.
"We had to find somebody to play Manson," he said. "And that wasn't easy."
After hundreds of auditions, a bit of serendipity came into play. And enormous good luck for both the producers and Jeremy Davies, who ended up getting the lead role in the three-hour CBS movie, which airs Sunday at 7 p.m. on Ch. 2.
Davies, mainly an indie movie actor (including "Spanking the Monkey") who has had small roles in such films as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Solaris," was actually cast several years ago as the serial killer/cult leader for a movie that lost its financing and never got made. Which, at the time, the actor saw as a bit of a blessing.
Davies had spent "a few months" preparing "intensely" for the role as the man convicted of ordering the infamous, horrific Tate/LaBianca murders in 1969. But, just a couple of weeks before the movie was to start filming, "I was kind of having a nervous breakdown in a hotel room," he recently told TV critics. "I was convinced there was no way I could pull it off."
His agent, however, sent videotape of Davies' auditions for that never-made movie to Wolper, who was interested. But Davies had to be convinced to take on the part, which he agreed to do only if changes were made in the dialogue to better reflect Manson's actual manner of speech.
This is the second TV movie based on the book by Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Manson and his "family." This is not, however, a remake of the 1976 telefilm — which remains the highest-rated two-part TV movie in television history.
"The first movie was about how I caught Manson. . . . This movie emphasizes Charles Manson — who he was and how he got control over his followers to the point where they were willing to murder complete strangers for him," said Bugliosi, who's an executive producer.
It's both fascinating and horrifying. Davies does an admirable job of creating a "character" who's both magnetic and repellent; who's crazy but compelling. It's utterly terrifying.
Bugliosi is indeed portrayed onscreen (by Bruno Kirby), but the movie doesn't lionize him. It also doesn't reflect particularly well on the legal system in Los Angeles at the time of the murders, as territorial cops fail to connect Manson and his followers to the murders — or the murders to each other — and the whole group is released after being arrested on unrelated charges because of a clerical error.
CBS is including all sorts of appropriate warnings to viewers that this is indeed an intense, violent movie. The opening scene recounts a murder committed before the Tate/LaBianca crimes, and there's plenty of blood in scenes depicting the aftermath.
But it's not an R-rated gore fest. The Tate/LaBianca murders are seen in flashbacks that employ quick-cuts and out-of-focus shots that keep the violence — but not the horror — somewhat in check.
What's really horrifying is that Manson could make anyone commit the crimes.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com