Chat Ed : Welcome to this evening's webchat with acclaimed Director and documentary maker Nick Broomfield. In January 1991, the police arrested Aileen Wuornos, a hitch-hiking hooker, for the murder of seven men in the woods of Florida. Dubbed the world's first female serial killer, her case earned her international infamy. In the early 1990s, Nick Broomfield followed the hysterical media circus covering her bizarre and extraordinary trial. The resulting film, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer , documented the trial itself, the misfits attached to the case, the people out to make money from the tragedy, and the whole peculiar charade that came to surround the complex, tragic, violent figure at its centre. Now, almost a decade later, Wuornos has been executed, but the controversy surrounding her case lives on, the flames fanned by the release of Monster , an Oscar-winning Hollywood blockbuster about her life. In the last months of her life, Broomfield returned to Florida to appear in her appeal hearings, and to answer some of the questions that had plagued him in the intervening years. Here’s what you wanted to ask Nick…
Kit : Hi Nick
jamesopus : hello nick
Nick Broomfield : Hello, welcome to the webchat. I'll be very interested to hear your questions and hopefully I will be able to answer them.
becksbe : Good Evening Nick hope u are well ?
johnnyvolume : brilliant film, nick
Nick Broomfield : I am well thank you, I'm very relieved that the film has been shown on Channel 4 - it's been a long journey.
Katie : Nick, Aileen seemed endearing at times, how did you feel about her on a personal level?
flick : Did you ever expect to build up such a rapport with Aileen?
Nick Broomfield : Hi Katie... I found her very endearing at times, yes. She was like a lost little girl. She felt entirely alone in the world. It was impossible not to be moved by her despite the crimes that she had committed.
Kaz : Did you find Aileen's mannerisms intimidating in anyway? I notice she hardly blinks on film.
Nick Broomfield : Aileen had these amazing, penetrating, black eyes which seemed to have no separation from the pupil outwards - they were entirely black, especially when she was in a rage. I did find it hard looking at them when she was angry.
davidmc : try again...how did nick feel leaving aileen as they did?
Doobie : Hi Nick, how do you feel about how you left things with Aileen?
Nick Broomfield : I felt very bad and depressed at the end of the last interview, also grateful that she had not given me the finger, but I think one would feel bad in any event saying goodbye to someone who was about to be executed.
Lucy : was there any hope for aileen once she was on death row, could she have got off if she hadn't sabotaged everything?
Nick Broomfield : I think she probably could have done because her first lawyer had already pled out five of the murders.. There were substantial grounds for the appeal of the Richard Mary case - which was the first death sentence she received. Jeb Bush and President Bush are leaning on other states to adopt the death penalty.
Rkenyavic : Nick, after all of the times you spoke to Aileen, and all of the times she changed her story do you believe she killed her first victim in self defence, or was it just an elaborate web of lies?
Nick Broomfield : I do believe that Aileen killed Richard Mary in self-defence. I think that in her paranoia I truly believe that she killed all her victims in self-defence. I say this because she showed no remorse to the very end. Even when a priest came to take her confession she sent him away because she believed she had done society a favour by killing these men.
zeebee : I wanted to ask Nick if he had any strong opinions on the death sentence in the US before meeting Aileen
BarryV : Do you think you let your opposition to the death penalty cloud your judgement about Aileen?
Nick Broomfield : I think that the death penalty has never helped solve any problems. It sets an example that killing is alright. It is also aimed against those least able to defend themselves - the poor, racial minority groups and often the mentally unstable. I don't think that my opinions on the death penalty in any way influenced my attitude towards Aileen, who I related to very much on a personal level.
Ian Bettison : How politically important was Aileens death for Jeb Bush?
Nick Broomfield : I think he was just running for re-election and it was a popular decision to execute her with the Christian Right as well as members of the Republican party. Aileen was hated in Florida and had been ridiculed in the press as a man-hating, lesbian, predator.
Barry : What was the reaction from the American media towards your presence and views regarding Aileen's case?
Kaz : NICK, did you come across any antagonism from the authorities in making your film?
Nick Broomfield : The American media are, on the whole, very uncritical of the American judicial system. They only covered the most sensational aspects of the case and rarely asked questions about Aileen's background or about how she could have been better served by the justice system. Until there is much more criticism of the justice system by American media there is going to be very little change.
ade : Did you watch the film Monster and what did you think of it?
lllarsson : Do you feel the movie Monster was an accurate portrayal of Aileen
Nick Broomfield : I did watch Monster yes and I thought Charlize's performance was fantastic, but the film is quite inaccurate in its portrayal of some of the murders.
pin : Is the film, Monster, the film that she mentions the police collaborating on ?
Nick Broomfield : No it's not, pin - the police were collaborating on a film called “Overkill”.
Sofia : Do you think Aileen was a victim?
Nick Broomfield : I do think Aileen was a victim although I don't think she herself thought so. I don't think she had a good and proper start in life. Things might have worked out very differently if she had.
Andrew2004 : Has this film been shown in the US?
KateR : Did the victim's families react to the film?
Nick Broomfield : The film is being shown theatrically in the US, but it still has not been released on DVD there, but it will be shown on Home Box Office in November, so there has been no reaction as yet from the victim's families.
cloud_walker : Is there a web site that follows her story?
Nick Broomfield : Yes there is... it is www.aileenfilm.com or go to my website www.nickbroomfield.com
Banchang : Do you see yourself as one of those who made money out of her in film, as she described ?
Nick Broomfield : I don't... My motive in making the second film was to get to the bottom of Aileen's change of mind and to investigate initially the possibility of getting her off death row. I hope that the film will cause some reform in people's attitudes.
Poppy : will channel 4 be showing the earlier film you made ' the selling of a serial killer'?
Nick Broomfield : That is something I don't know. You will have to ask Channel 4 about that. I think it would be a good idea.
fAirieZ : Hello Nick fantastic documentary!
eden : has steve - dr 'legal' been disbarred?
Nick Broomfield : “Dr Legal” is still practising, although he had to move from Gainesville, where he was first practising, because other members of the legal profession were so upset by what he did.
vic jameson : Have you ever felt as close or attached to another subject of any of your documentaries as you really seemed to feel a passion about Aileen's story?
Nick Broomfield : I think that emotionally Aileen's story was by far the most involving - probably on a very tragic level and particularly as the execution is such a negative result.
Neil-B : Do you think you could have done any more for her?
Nick Broomfield : That is why I have been working with organisations like Amnesty International and AMICUS who are trying to help the situation concerning the death penalty, which is such a barbaric punishment. I would have been very pleased if we could have got Aileen a proper legal defence. A number of us worked on this idea - the National Coalition of Lawyers in New York and various other people offered their services but Aileen distrusted nearly everybody. It was very disappointing that none of these things worked out.
Elaine Hutton : She was clearly mentally ill - how did she pass the psychiatrist?
Nick Broomfield : I think that the psychiatrist chose to define mental illness in a way that suited Jeb Bush - there was another case recently where a prisoner who was clearly schizophrenic was given drugs for the execution because the psychiatrist argued that that would make him legally sane. The thing I think was so terrible was that Jeb Bush and the psychiatrist bodged the law to what suited them.
DaveyB : Could there be any truth to what Aileen was saying about the police allowing murders to happen for monetary gain?
Nick Broomfield : It's true that the police did try and sell Aileen's story to Hollywood but I don't believe they allowed her to carry on killing.
Elliot : Nick, what if she hadn’t been executed? what would you like to see as fit punishment?
Nick Broomfield : I think Aileen should have received some kind of medical treatment and kept in some type of institution for the rest of her life. I think that is a much better example of how people should be treated.
charl : Do you miss her?
Nick Broomfield : I do miss Aileen. It's a weird thought that somebody can suddenly be executed at 9:15am and cease to exist. It's a very hard thing to fully accept.
Tony : What next Nick?
Gav : What next then Nick?
Nick Broomfield : That's a secret and I'll keep you posted.
Chat Ed : Our time with Nick is up now ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for coming and thanks to Nick for taking the time out to speak to us…
Verity : Thank you Nick! An amazing documentary!
vic jameson : Thanks for the chat Nick.
JamesM : Thank you
dfsdf : Thanks for the chat !
k8 : thanks nick
graduate : thanks Nick, fantastic doc.
Nick Broomfield : Thank you so much for all your interest. I'd like to encourage all of you who are interested in the death penalty and issues like Aileen's to contact Amnesty International or the various other help groups many of which are listed on the www.aileenfilm.com website.
Nick2 : Thanks Nick.
mick85 : Thanks nick
Mauricio : Thanks Nick, fantastic documentary.
mal : Thanks nick very enlightening
Nick Broomfield : I thank you very much for your support and it's been great chatting to you.
Leigh Bennett : thanx nick, always great
Wills : I will take that into consideration, thankyou
MThawley : I intend to do that.
james hb lyons : Thank you for the chat
Lilster : amnesty international....a great organisation...some fantastic stuff on their site
susan : thanx again.....a very heart rendering powerful film
Nick Broomfield leaves the room
