HBO: Documentary Films — The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

The groundbreaking HBO series unravels the seven-year investigation into 3 notorious unsolved crimes, and the man suspected of being at its center – Robert Durst.

–Premieres–
Sunday, February 8th, 2015

One of the most anticipated television events of 2015, it was announced today by Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. Directed and produced by Andrew Jarecki and produced and shot by Marc Smerling (the Oscar® nominees behind “Capturing the Friedmans”), the six-part documentary series exposes long-buried information discovered during their seven-year investigation of a series of unsolved crimes, and the man suspected of being at its center – Robert Durst, scion of New York’s billionaire Durst family – and was made with his full cooperation. THE JINX will debut exclusively on HBO in Feb. 2015. 

Brilliant, reclusive and the subject of relentless media scrutiny, Durst has never spoken publicly – until now. During exclusive interviews with Jarecki, he talks with startling candor, revealing secrets of a case that has baffled authorities for 30 years. Long suspected in the 1982 disappearance of his beautiful young wife in New York, the 2000 murder of the key witness in the case in Beverly Hills, and the subsequent murder and dismemberment of a neighbor in Galveston, Tex., Durst has consistently maintained his innocence, and remains a free man today.

This unprecedented documentary event tracks Jarecki as he develops a relationship with Durst, unearthing thousands of pages of hidden documents, police files, key witnesses, never-before-seen footage and private prison recordings.

“Andrew and Marc have done a brilliant job weaving a story that is both a character study and thrilling murder mystery. It literally kept me on the edge of my seat,” said Lombardo. ”I am thrilled that this amazing film has found a home on HBO.”

“What occurs in this series is so unique, there is no home for it other than HBO,” says Jarecki. “Over the seven years in which we pursued the story through all its unexpected revelations, uncovering the truth became an obsession. Now the audience can watch it unfold in front of them as it did for us.”

THE JINX: THE LIFE AND DEATHS OF ROBERT DURST marks Jarecki and Smerling’s second collaboration with HBO, following the landmark documentary “Capturing the Friedmans,” which was presented theatrically and televised by HBO. The series is co-produced and edited by Zac Stuart-Pontier, who previously worked with the filmmakers on “Catfish,” and executive produced by Jason Blum of Blumhouse, whose previous HBO credits include “The Normal Heart.”