Documentary looks at political comeback of Imelda Marcos

Richards returning as Wallace for ‘Halloween Kills’

DBy Lindsey Bahr

ocumentary filmmaker Lauren Greenfield started interviewing former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos four years ago thinking that it might be a redemption story for the then 85-year-old. What she found is that Marcos was not only standing by the controversial history of her family but defending it as well.

Greenfield’s documentary about Marcos, “The Kingmaker”, premiered Friday at the Venice International Film Festival.

Imelda Marcos’ husband, the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos presided over the country for 20 years and declared martial law in 1972, which ultimately resulted in his being ousted by an army-backed “people power” revolt in 1986. He died in self-exile in Hawaii in 1989 but Imelda Marcos and her children returned to the Philippines where many have been elected to political office.

“I started it attracted to Imelda Marcos because she was an iconic reference in the work I was doing on wealth,” Greenfield said Friday in a press conference. She’d heard about extravagances – her 3,000 pairs of shoes and the island she turned into a wildlife sanctuary for exotic animals – but came to understand that there was another story brewing beyond the decadence.

“I was taken in with her story and her history,” Greenfield said. “(But I) soon realized that the political comeback story was what I wanted to focus on.”

The film chronicles Marcos’ efforts to help her son Bongbong win the vice-presidency. It helped inform the title, “The Kingmaker”, which she landed on a year into editing. “It would be like (Richard) Nixon coming back and running for re-election,” Greenfield said. “I was amazed that this family ... was welcomed back and into public office.”

For Greenfield, known for documentaries like “The Queen of Versailles” and “Generation Wealth”, it was a unique experience working with an “unreliable narrator” and she struggled with how to tell the audience that some of what Marcos was saying was incorrect. She also said she found Marcos, now 90, to be generous and kind and candid. She said Marcos has not yet seen the documentary.

“I think she is extremely confident about her story, her place in history and her legacy and that’s what I wanted to hear from her,” Greenfield said. “People have treated Marcos as a laughable figure. (It) reminds me of how we didn’t take (Donald) Trump seriously, and I think she often has the last laugh.” “The Kingmaker” will be in theaters this fall and on Showtime in 2020.

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Also:

Kyle Richards of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” will reprise her role as Lindsey Wallace in the upcoming “Halloween Kills”.

Richards appeared as a child actress in

John Carpenter’s

original “Halloween” in 1978 as Lindsey Wallace – one of the children being babysat by the Annie Brackett and Laurie Strode characters. In the movie, villain Michael Myers has escaped on the night before Halloween in Haddonfield, Ill, where he attacks high-school student Strode, memorably played by Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut.

Universal announced in July that it would release back-to-back “Halloween” sequel movies that will open in 2020 and 2021. Last year’s “Halloween”, starring Curtis and directed by David Gordon Green, went on to become the highest-grossing installment in the horror franchise at more than $250 million worldwide.

In the 2018 film, Curtis’ character has a final confrontation with Michael Myers, who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago. That film found Strode as a reclusive grandmother still traumatized by her encounters with the killer and praying every night to get one more chance to dispatch Myers. After he escapes prison, she gets her wish. The first sequel will be titled “Halloween Kills” and opens on Oct 16, 2020. “Halloween Ends” will open a year later on Oct 15, 2021. Green will direct both films and Curtis will star.

Kyle Richards and her sister Kim Richards also starred in the 1977 horror film “The Car”. She also starred in Tobe Hooper’s “Eaten Alive” and appeared as a nurse on 21 episodes of “E.R.” between 1998 and 2006. Richards began appearing on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” in 2010. She is repped by UTA. (Agencies)