The production of a film depicting the investigation of convicted murderer and abortion doctor will go ahead following a protracted legal battle. Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer is set to screen in approximately 750 theaters in October through a distribution deal with GVN Releasing, the filmmakers announced Tuesday. In May 2013, Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three of the infants. He was also convicted on several counts of illegal late-term abortion. He is currently serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The film only narrowly made it to screen after the judge presiding over Gosnell’s trial, Jeffrey Mineheart, sued to block its release, fearing he was portrayed as part of “Philadelphia’s liberal corrupt government.”
The lawsuit further contended that the authors and filmmakers portrayed Minehart “as a villain in their story of the righteous versus the wicked” when, in fact, he’s a “former prosecutor with an impeccable reputation for honesty, integrity and fairness.”
The lawsuit accused the producers of “shamelessly exploiting for profit the morally divisive issue of abortion and the notoriety of the horrific Kermit Gosnell trial, which involved a Philadelphia abortion doctor who was found guilty of grisly mass murders of fully developed in-vitro infants, some of whom were born alive.”
The legal issue has since been resolved, and the producers are relieved that the full story of this horrific series of crimes will be told to the masses.
Gosnell was accused of using scissors to sever the spinal cords of babies who were born alive, as well as keeping the feet of babies as “trophies” in his office. “The fanatic subject matter poses a risk,” said executive producer John Sullivan, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “We were very careful not to make it too graphic. Gosnell saving feet of infants in jars as trophies plays a role, and you’ll see him take scissors out, but that part plays out as theater of the mind.”
“No matter what your stance is on abortion, you will have a more informed opinion after you see Gosnell,” said director Nick Searcy. Producer Anne McElhinney added that “it’s a story that needs to be told fairly,” noting that “the cover-up stops here.”
Sullivan said that Hollywood is going to be shellshocked by the gruesome tale that resulted in the death of hundreds of babies, and hopes that it will serve as a wake-up call to the liberal culture of pro-abortion activism that has engulfed film industry. The reception from the entertainment industry capital to his film has, he said, been unsurprisingly cold.
“I’ve been on hard films before, but this one was particularly difficult,” said Sullivan. “Hollywood is afraid of this content. It’s a true story the media tried to ignore from the very beginning, so I wasn’t surprised to see Hollywood ignore us.”
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Due to Hollywood’s lack of cooperation, and in order to raise the $2.3 million required to produce the film, the team put together an incredibly successful crowdfunding campaign.
“Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer was one of the most successfully crowdfunded films in history. It was an amazing experience for us,” the film’s producers explained on the movie’s website.
“Almost 30,000 people donated over $2.3m in 45 days. When it ended it was the most successful crowdfunding campaign on the Indiegogo website. We want to thank all of our funders who helped make this project such a success. We literally could not have done it without you. This is your movie.”