Wormwood (miniseries)

Wormwood
File:Wormwood Netflix.png
Genre	Docudrama Psychological drama
Directed by	Errol Morris
Starring	Peter Sarsgaard Molly Parker Christian Camargo Scott Shepherd Tim Blake Nelson Jimmi Simpson Bob Balaban Michael Chernus
Composer(s)	Paul Leonard-Morgan
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producer(s)	Adam Del Deo Peter Friedlander Lisa Nishimura Errol Morris Robert Fernandez Caroline Baron
Production company(s)	Fourth Floor Productions Moxie Pictures
Release
Original network	Netflix
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Wormwood is a 2017 American six-part docudrama miniseries directed by Errol Morris and released on Netflix on December 15, 2017. The series is based on the life of a scientist, Frank Olson, who participated in a secret government biological warfare program (Project MKUltra).

Plot

Wormwood is told through Eric Olson, the son of Frank Olson, an American biological warfare scientist and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1953.

Nine days after Olson was covertly dosed with LSD by his CIA supervisor as part of Project MKUltra, he plunged to his death from the window of a hotel room in New York City. His death was initially regarded as a suicide, but subsequent investigations have raised questions of a coverup of an alleged murder.

Wormwood is an allusion to a Bible verse about a star that makes everything bitter, an allusion to biological weapons, and the effect of Eric Olson’s search for a resolution regarding the death of his father for 60 years. Errol Morris said that "What Wormwood tries to do is tell a story about how we know what we know and how reliable is that knowledge."

A key piece of evidence the film relies on is a CIA assassination manual from 1953, which instructs agents, "The most efficient accident, in simple assassination, is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface."

Cast

Interviews

• Eric Olson
• David Rudovsky, family attorney
• Seymour Hersh
• Stephen Saracco

Reenactments

• Peter Sarsgaard as Frank Olson – Biochemist
• Molly Parker as Alice Olson – Wife
• Christian Camargo as Dr. Robert Lashbrook – CIA
• Scott Shepherd as Lt. Col. Vincent Ruwet
• Tim Blake Nelson as Sidney Gottlieb
• Jimmi Simpson as CIA agent
• Bob Balaban as Dr. Harold A. Abramson – Allergist
• Michael Chernus as Dr. James Starrs
• Stephen DeRosa as Eric Olson – Son as Narrator (2017)
• Chance Kelly as Wet Works #2

Production

In order to be eligible for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 90th Academy Awards, the series was recut into a continuous feature after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) ruled that multi-part documentary series (such as 2017 winner O.J.: Made in America) were ineligible. However, the series was rejected from consideration by AMPAS for the documentary feature category, although it remains eligible in all other categories.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Chapter 1: Suicide Revealed"	Errol Morris	Kieran Fitzgerald and Steven Hathaway & Molly Rokosz	December 15, 2017 (2017-12-15)
In 1953, Army scientist Frank Olson takes a fatal plunge from a hotel window. In 1975, a bombshell report ties his death to a top-secret experiment.
2	"Chapter 2: A Terrible Mistake"	Errol Morris	Steven Hathaway & Molly Rokosz and Kieran Fitzgerald	December 15, 2017 (2017-12-15)
Amid a wave of media attention, the government races to placate the family. In New York, Frank visits a doctor known for his unconventional methods.
3	"Chapter 3: The Forbidden Threshold"	Errol Morris	Story by: Kieran Fitzgerald and Steven Hathaway & Molly Rokosz Teleplay by: Steven Hathaway & Molly Rokosz	December 15, 2017 (2017-12-15)
One trip to New York morphs into two when Frank suffers a setback on the way home. Decades later, an apprehensive Eric checks into room 1018A.
4	"Chapter 4: Opening the Lid"	Errol Morris	Story by: Kieran Fitzgerald and Steven Hathaway & Molly Rokosz Teleplay by: Steven Hathaway & Molly Rokosz	December 15, 2017 (2017-12-15)
A hotel worker overhears a curious phone call the night of Frank's death. In 1994, a forensics expert exhumes the body to find compelling new clues.
5	"Chapter 5: Honorable Men"	Errol Morris	Story by: Kieran Fitzgerald Teleplay by: Steven Hathaway & Molly Rokosz and Kieran Fitzgerald	December 15, 2017 (2017-12-15)
Frank's growing concerns about Cold War activities raise alarm bells at the CIA. A frustrated Eric launches a last-ditch bid for closure.
6	"Chapter 6: Remember Me"	Errol Morris	Story by: Kieran Fitzgerald Teleplay by: Steven Hathaway & Molly Rokosz and Kieran Fitzgerald	December 15, 2017 (2017-12-15)
Thanks to Seymour Hersh, Eric finally learns the truth—but at a maddening cost. In room 1018A, Frank faces off with two mysterious men.

Release

The series was first screened at the 74th Venice International Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival in September 2017.

Reception

The New York Times awarded it a NYT Critic’s Pick with reviewer A. O. Scott saying "Mr. Morris presents a powerful historical argument in the guise of a beguiling work of cinematic art — and vice versa." Matt Zoller Seitz, writing for Vulture.com, "The filmmaking gathers all the bits and pieces of the story together and arranges them in ways that are clever, surprising, and so aggressively (and deliberately) self-conscious that there are times when the whole thing gets close to turning into an intellectualized formal exercise...there’s never a moment where Olson or Morris fail to fascinate." Vanity Fair called it "one of the most original things you’ll see all year."

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 90% based on 39 reviews, and an average rating of 7.8/10.

External links

• Wormwood at IMDb