“We don’t have to be totally sympathetic
to the main character, but I think we have
to be engaged by the monster.”

Read the full article here.

…participating with De Niro in an improvised interview scene was surreal. “Bob is having to answer those questions extemporaneously, out of Bernie Madoff’s brain.”

Recent discussion at the The Television Critics Association shed some light on how De Niro “became” Madoff for HBO’s upcoming adaptation of The Wizard of Lies. Read the full article here.

“She advised that journalists be extra alert when interviewing people like Madoff to avoid getting swept up in charm and potential lies. The story seemed to resonate with students in the audience.”

Maya Lora wrote an interesting synopsis of a recent talk given at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. It is always inspiring to have an opportunity to discuss research and reporting with the next generation of journalists.

Read the full article here.

“Henriques is also wary of the inability of jurisdictions to provide resolution: ‘This case just underscores how ill-equipped the judicial and bankruptcy systems are to cope with a global cross-border fraud. Haggling between jurisdictions takes centre stage before the victims ever get heard, particularly between the UK bankruptcy process and the US bankruptcy process.'”

Read the full article.

The road to my HBO film debut (playing myself in its adaptation of The Wizard of Lies) began with coffee with the executive producers in mid-July 2015. After our long conversation, they suggested to Barry Levinson that I should be asked to audition to play myself in the scenes where a character named “Diana B. Henriques” interviews Madoff in prison. I got the call a few weeks later: Would I consider doing a screen test for the role? Of course, I would! After a second audition and discussions about the filming, I got the part.

It is surreal to play oneself in a theatrical environment. Dick Cavett had a wonderful reaction to that experience — you can read it here. The challenge is not to “play” oneself but to just “be” oneself when everyone else is playing a role. But scary as it is — and accepting that I could wind up on some cutting room floor — this once-in-a-lifetime chance was just too exciting to pass up!