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 "Do you think I'm a sociopath?" Madoff, played by Robert De
Niro, asks journalist Diana B. Henriques in a prison interview.
"The Wizard of Lies," premiering on Time Warner Inc's HBO on
Saturday ahead of an international rollout, leaves the question
unanswered. Almost a decade after Madoff was convicted of
masterminding the biggest financial fraud in U.S. history, the
filmmakers put their focus on the devastating consequences for
his family.
"This is a dark tragedy of a man's betrayal of his family," said
director Barry Levinson. "This was a man who ultimately
destroyed his family, and the financial lives of thousands and
thousands of people."
"It's not for us to decide is he or isn't he (a sociopath),
because if he were, so what? It doesn't help anything," said
Levinson.
"Wizard of Lies" follows several documentaries, a stage play and
a 2016 TV miniseries about Madoff, reflecting an enduring
fascination with the quiet, fatherly figure and his apparent
lack of remorse or explanation for his actions.
Madoff, 79, is serving a 150-year prison term after pleading
guilty in 2009 to multiple charges of fraud. His son Mark
committed suicide two years after his father's arrest and his
younger son, Andrew, died of lymphoma in 2014. Ruth, his wife of
more than 50 years, has cut off contact with him.
"I don't know if I ever really came to understand him," said De
Niro, who is seen as an Emmy front-runner for his enigmatic
portrayal of Madoff.
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Henriques, the New York Times journalist whose prison interviews and
2011 book formed the basis for the HBO film, said that while Madoff
became "a very easy target for anger and outrage" over the wider
2008 Wall Street meltdown, his story has a wider resonance.
"This was betrayal on a Shakespearean scale," said Henriques, who
plays herself in the film. "When someone comes forward who has so
flagrantly violated the trust of those who loved him, I think we all
feel shaken by that."
Henriques conducted two prison interviews with Madoff and exchanged
emails and letters, concluding that he is a man "with a pathological
inability to see himself as a failure."
She believes he would likely watch the HBO film if he gets the
chance.
"Over the years he has clearly demonstrated that he follows the news
about himself. I do know that he read the book ... He hated the
title but he told me he appreciated that I had been fair to his
family. So I would be surprised if he had an opportunity to see this
film that he wouldn't take it," she said.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Tom Brown)
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