By Robert Scucci
| Published 14 seconds ago
Any true crime fan will tell you how awesome Mindhunter is, but only before lamenting the fact that it’s never coming back for Season 3. We want it to. I want it to. But it’s gone forever, and we need to accept that in order for the healing process to begin. To help cope, you can always fire up 2021’s No Man of God, a thriller based on the life and times of Bill Hagmaier, who famously logged over 200 hours interviewing Ted Bundy while he was on death row between 1984 and 1989.
Though Bill Hagmaier didn’t work directly with FBI agents John E. Douglas and Robert K. Ressler (fictionalized as Holden Ford and Bill Tench in Mindhunter), he was one of the earliest profilers working in the agency’s Behavioral Science Unit in the 70s and 80s. In fact, Ressler, who wasn’t interested in interviewing Bundy when invited to do so, contacted Hagmaier and encouraged him to take it on.
A Film That Depicts Bundy’s True Colors
When No Man of God writer C. Robert Cargill was asked why he felt compelled to pen the screenplay, his answer was simple. He was tired of all the true crime media that glorifies Ted Bundy’s mythos. He’s always called charming and attractive while being praised for his intimidating intelligence. In Cargill’s mind, “the deeper you dig into the story you realize there’s nothing to mystify here, there’s nothing amazing about him.” If that’s the point he wanted to get across, mission accomplished.
No Man of God centers on a young Bill Hagmaier (Elijah Wood), who’s tasked with getting to know Bundy (Luke Kirby) so his department can continue developing and fine tuning its profiling efforts. Between 1984 and 1989, the two men become close in that “I’m using you for research” kind of way. Bundy, who puts up a strong mental front at first, remains guarded because he doesn’t trust the FBI. He only warms up to Hagmaier because the young profiler seems genuinely curious about his motives and wants to understand. Everybody else, in Bundy’s mind, wants to spin a yarn and sell a book. Over time, their “friendship” forms around that uneasy rapport.
As their relationship develops, Bundy tries to convince Hagmaier that they’re not so different, which understandably troubles the FBI agent. Of course, this could simply be another one of Bundy’s manipulation tactics. In this case, though, his musings seem to come from a place of respect, giving the serial killer a level of depth that’s not often portrayed in popular media. When Florida Governor Robert Martinez signs the death warrant that expedites Bundy’s execution, the cracks begin to show, and Bundy finally seems ready to reveal his deepest and darkest secrets to a by now anxious and emotionally wrecked Bill Hagmaier.
A Must-See For True Crime Fans
Cut from the same cloth as Mindhunter, No Man of God is a dialogue heavy film that relies on its source material to drive its authenticity home. We’re getting dramatized reenactments of the actual interviews Hagmaier conducted with Bundy, much like the conversations with Ed Kemper, David Berkowitz, and Charles Manson in the now-defunct Netflix series. Similarly, Luke Kirby is a dead ringer for Ted Bundy, and if you squint you’d be hard pressed to think he’s not the real deal. If you’ve watched Netflix’s docuseries Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, you’ll quickly notice how Kirby nails Bundy’s mannerisms, verbal tics, and cadence.
There are no fireworks or theatrics in No Man of God. It’s very much a slow burn thriller that unpacks one of the earliest profiling efforts spearheaded by the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. If you’re still aching about Mindhunter’s unceremonious demise like I am, it comes with a strong recommendation that you stream No Man of God for free on Tubi the next time you want to witness the kind of conversations that will make your skin crawl.
