TRIAL BY FIRE — Ed Zwick Interview

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A film like TRIAL BY FIRE provokes a host of questions about the justice system and the ethics of capital punishment.  When I spoke with Ed Zwick on April 15, 2019, those inevitably came up as we discussed adapting the true story of Cameron Todd Willingham’s murder conviction, and the writer Elizabeth Gilbert’s subsequent fight to win him a new trial.  The miscarriage of justice as applied to a working-class man makes for a compelling, heartbreaking film, but as Zwick noted in our conversation, larger issue also come into play, including the lost opportunities for rehabilitation in the current prison system.

We went on to talk about Zwick’s decision to show Willingham’s faults as well as his virtues, depicting an execution by lethal injection, and the performances from stars Laura Dern and Jack O’Connell that eschew melodrama in favor of humanity.

.A film like this provokes a host of questions about the justice system and the ethics of capital punishment. When I spoke with Zwick on April 15, 2019, those inevitably came up as we discussed adapting the true story of Cameron Todd Willingham’s murder conviction, and the writer Elizabeth Gilbert’s subsequent fight to win him a new trial. The miscarriage of justice as applied to a working-class man makes for a compelling, heartbreaking film, but as Zwick noted in our conversation, larger issues also come into play, including the lost opportunities for rehabilitation in the current prison system.
We went on to talk about Zwick’s decision to show Willingham’s faults as well as his virtues, depicting an execution by lethal injection, and the performances from stars Laura Dern and Jack O’Connell that eschew melodrama in favor of humanity.

Zwick directed from a script by Geoffrey Fletcher, which was based on the The Yorker Article by David Grann. Zwick’s previous work includes PAWN SACRIFICE, GLORY, BLOOD DIAMONDS, and on television MY SO CALLED LIFE and thirtysomething.