Michael C. Hall Playing The Most Infamous Cult Leader
If you only think of Michael C. Hall as TV’s Dexter, then his upcoming role may completely change your perceptions. Sure, the actor might have become a household name thanks to his onscreen antics, where he found increasingly creative ways to kill dangerous killers. Now, though, Deadline reports he will be playing more of a victim…specifically, Michael C. Hall will be playing a devoted member of the Heaven’s Gate cult in the upcoming true crime biopic The Leader.
Michael C. Hall is going from serial killer to devoted cultist as part of Heaven’s Gate in a new biopic, The Leader.
In case you’ve forgotten what Heaven’s Gate was all about (or, God help us, you weren’t alive when it all went down), this was a cult founded in 1974 by Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite. The cultists of the kind Michael C. Hall will be playing in the upcoming film had religious beliefs that combined obscure Christian beliefs with New Age philosophies and even extraterrestrial conspiracy theories.
The Heaven’s Gate cult generally flew under the radar until March 26, 1997, when Applewhite and 38 cult members were found dead of ritual suicide in a San Diego suburb. They had timed the ritual so their souls could teleport to a spaceship they thought was hidden behind the approaching Comet Hale–Bopp.
Needless to say, this collective suicide and its attendant religious beliefs both perplexed and fascinated the public, and the fact that the group had been quietly operating for decades before their highly publicized suicide merely increased that fascination. The Leader is a film that hopes to capitalize on that lingering fascination, and Michael C. Hall’s role will shine a unique spotlight on the Heaven’s Gate cult. In the movie, Hall plays “a wealthy addict who attempts to win favor with Applewhite by financially supporting the cult with his trust fund.”
The cultists of the kind Michael C. Hall will be playing in the upcoming film had religious beliefs that combined obscure Christian beliefs with New Age philosophies and even extraterrestrial conspiracy theories.
While Michael C. Hall is an immensely talented actor, it’s an open secret that casting him in a high-profile role is a way to generate both commercial and audience interest in this project (something very important because the Heaven’s Gate suicides happened over a quarter of a century ago). Privately, Hall is likely excited about the opportunity for the simple reason that the Dexter reboot won’t be getting another season, and the ongoing actors’ strike has kept him from other gigs. Speaking of the strike, this film will be able to enter production sooner rather than later because it “has secured an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA.”
Michael C. Hall’s character in The Leader is “a wealthy addict who attempts to win favor with Applewhite by financially supporting the cult with his trust fund.”
We obviously have no way of predicting how audiences will react to The Leader, but from the outside looking in, the film sounds like it could be a major success. True crime is red hot right now, as evidenced by the success of series such as Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story on Netflix.
Having someone with both the celebrity status and horror pedigree of Michael C. Hall could help make this film about the Heaven’s Gate cult into a major success. That success may very well lead to renewed public interest in the cult and its insane story, and we’d love it if someone could finally get to the bottom of why so many people lost their lives for such a strange and inexplicable reason.
