Tonight is the premiere of one of the most fascinating stories, with a new twist, if you will, on a mystery intertwined with the infamous Black Dahlia murder case from 1947 in Los Angeles.
The aspiring actress, Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – January 14 or 15, 1947), who became posthumously known as the “Black Dahlia” was found gruesomely mutilated and murdered in Los Angeles, California. This unsolved crime has been the source of many books, movies and theories about who did it and one of the suspects was a famous doctor, George Hodel (played by Jefferson Mays), who was never formally charged with the crime and who’s son, Los Angeles homicide detective Steve Hodel, considered his father guilty of killing Short and committing several additional murders, but did not have the evidence to convict him.
Where this new six-part crime drama, “I am the Night” comes in, is with the granddaughter, Fauna Hodel (played by India Eisley), who was given away to a black family to be raised as a “mixed race” child and doesn’t know, until one night, her “mother” says something to her that arouses her suspicions to go look and she finds a birth certificate with Fauna Hodel as the child named, and then confronts her mother to only learn that she is that child. It’s at this point, that Fauna, contacts her grandfather, Dr. George Hodel, who interestingly, has had one of his men follow her where she is living in Sparks, Nevada… and magically appears during her trip to Los Angeles, where he has invited her to visit, but doesn’t tell her who he is.
The series takes the audience on a journey for truth and justice with Chris Pine, who plays a fallen reporter, broken by the Korean War, and someone who tried to get Dr. Hodel convicted for the “Black Dahlia” murder, finds his way to Fauna through some twists both on the side of his publisher, Fauna’s adoptive mother, from his need to solve the mystery and the horrors he sees inside of Hodel’s Silver Lake home later in the series, oh and fun fact, the George Hodel home shown in this series, was the actual home where some of Hollywood’s darkest debauchery happening during that time was taking place. The Silver Lake mansion pictured here was owned by Hodel and designed by Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright and is shown throughout this series.
“On the journey to find who she really was, she stumbled into one of the most famous true crime stories in history,” says Director and Executive Producer Patty Jenkins.
One of the horrors that happened in the George Hodel home and why he was under surveillance for the murder of Short was due to the accusation of molesting his then, fourteen-year-old daughter, Tamar, Fauna’s real mother in October 1949. Both Fauna (Aka Pat played by Eisley) and reporter, Jay Singletary (played by Pine) uncover clue after clue, while corrupt LAPD officers put roadblocks in the path of Singletary, threatening to kill him because of being on the wrong side and going where he doesn’t belong to keep him from continuing the investigation when he got close to getting the evidence needed to put Hodel behind bars.
“The 16-year-old girl is the noir detective of our story,” Jenkins adds.
Fauna and her mother Tamar have also been subjects of other films, documentaries, and books but this storytelling comes with a fresh look at this crime drama, the time period and the quest for the truth and how it affected those involved in the real-life events.
Companion Podcast
If you’re looking for a well-crafted story to get into, watch “I Am The Night” tonight on TNT, the series kicks off with episode one and there is also a companion podcast “Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia” for you to tune into if you wish… find it on iTunes here.
The premiere was held on the 24th at the Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles with the cast and guests in attendance including star/executive producer Chris Pine, director/executive producer Patty Jenkins, executive producer/creator Sam Sheridan, TNT EVP of Original Programming Sarah Aubrey, as well as stars India Eisley, Jefferson Mays, Golden Brooks, Connie Nielsen, Leland Orser, Yul Vazquez, Dylan Smith, Jay Paulson along with Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman.
Premiere Photos
Meet Chris Pine who plays broken, but determined reporter Jay Singletary
Meet India Eisley who plays Fauna Hodel
Meet Patty Jenkins, director of “I am the Night”
Clip from Episode ONE – Chasing the story ‘In the Morgue’
About I Am The Night
From executive producer Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), I Am the Night tells the incredible story of Fauna Hodel (India Eisley) who was given away at birth. As Fauna begins to investigate the secrets to her past, she follows a sinister trail that swirls ever closer to an infamous Hollywood gynecologist, Dr. George Hodel (Jefferson Mays), a man involved in the darkest Hollywood debauchery. Chris Pine plays Jay Singletary, a former Marine-turned-hack-reporter/paparazzo. About TNT: TNT is basic cable’s #1 network in primetime with young adults and is home to one of cable’s most popular slates of original series, including The Alienist, Animal Kingdom, Claws, and the upcoming I Am the Night and Snowpiercer. TNT also presents popular shows such as Arrow, Supernatural, Bones and Castle; primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards® and the iHeartRadio Music Awards; and championship sports coverage, including the NBA and the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
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