This story first appeared in the Emmy Race Begins issue of TheWrap magazine.
The critical response to HBO Max’s limited series “The Staircase” has been overwhelmingly positive. But Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, the French filmmaker who directed the Peabody award-winning docu-series of the same name on which the new drama is based, is not participating in the applause.
In a recent interview, de Lestrade told Vanity Fair that he felt “betrayed” by the HBO Max adaptation because he believes it questions his integrity and professionalism. The eight-episode drama tells the story of Michael Peterson (Colin Firth), the crime writer who was convicted in 2003 of killing his wife Kathleen (Toni Collette), whom he claims fell to her death on the stairs in their Durham, North Carolina home.