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Hanssen
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60MinII:
Heart of Darkness
(more CBS News stories on Hanssen below)
CBS Website
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Executive Producers:
Lawrence Schiller and Norman Mailer
 
Directed by:
Lawrence Schiller
E! online
credits
PBS American Masters: Norman Mailer
Buy their book:
Into
the Mirror: The Life of Master Spy Robert P. Hanssen
Technical consultants to the movie:
The staff of
CI Centre including:
David Major
Paul Moore
Oleg Kalugin
Val Aksilenko
Yuri Shvets
Contact Us
CI Centre serves as technical consultants
to movie and documentary productions. See our staff
of experts.
CBS News Stories on Hanssen:
-The
Spy Allegations
-Below
the Radar
-To
Catch a Spy
-Making
Secrets Safe
-Execution
Possible for Accused Spy
-Alleged
FBI Spy Pleads Not Guilty
-Accused
Turncoat Left Clues
-Hanssen's
Puzzling Profile
-Interview
with Dr. Salerian
-A
Spy's Strange Sexual Life
-FBI
Spy 'Ministered' a Stripper
-Hanssen's
Early Start
-Freeh
Orders FBI Lie Tests
-Not
So Secret Tunnel
-Report
Criticizes FBI Security
-How
Much Did He Compromise?
-Hanssen
Indicted for Spying
-FBI
Turncoat Gets Life
60MinII:
Heart of Darkness
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Behind the Scenes
by CBS
Lawrence Schiller and
Norman Mailer, who have collaborated on other projects featuring high
profile/controversial real-life people, including the CBS mini-series
AMERICAN TRAGEDY about the O.J. Simpson trial, the Pulitzer Prize-winning
The Executioner's Song about Utah murderer Gary Gilmore, and
Oswald's Tale about Lee Harvey Oswald, spent nine months researching
and investigating the life of Robert Hanssen for this mini-series. Mailer
wrote the script and Schiller directed it. Here, Schiller and Mailer discuss the research and
fascinating facts involved in the real-story as well as the accuracy and
scope of the resulting mini-series.
How Hanssen's Bizarre Story Attracted the Talents
of Mailer and Schiller:
"Larry (Schiller) called me a week after Hanssen was
arrested and asked me if I'd be interested," said Mailer. "I immediately
said yes… (Hanssen) was, on the one hand, an extreme right wing figure and
on the other he was working with the Russians all those years. Since he
had done it successfully for so long he, obviously, was not clinically
insane. So, here was a man with enormous opposites who had managed to keep
his sanity -- and that appealed to me. I thought that's someone who is
going to be interesting to write about and try to understand."
Hanssen's opposites are what immediately intrigued Schiller as well. "I
had read an article that discussed the betrayal of his family and his
children -- and that he had betrayed them with more than his spying
activities. He had taken photographs of his wife that were very intimate.
He videotaped his wife in intimate situations and shared that with other
people that his wife didn't know about… So to me, it was a psychological
layer on top of another layer. And then there were a lot of other issues
being raised. He belonged to Opus Dei -- that was a staunch enemy of
communism worldwide -- and yet he was dealing with the Soviets. Was that a
cover? Or was he bipolar? Was he like a pendulum, swinging back and forth?
So that's what interested me, this psychological portrait."
Mailer adds that Hanssen's sex life is what surprised him the most about
Hanssen. "It added a third element. On the one hand he was a technically
excellent FBI agent, on the other hand he was spying for the Russians --
that's contradicting enough. But then to find out that he had this very
bizarre kinky sex life -- without his wife knowing about it -- changed it
to a three dimensional portrait. When I first came across it I thought,
'Oh my lord, how are we ever going to do that?'"
Truth Is Stranger Than
Fiction:
Beginning the Research Process:
Shortly after Hanssen's arrest, Schiller and Mailer
embarked upon a nine-month quest to interview as many of Hanssen's
associates, relatives and friends as possible, even interviewing the
Hanssen's Opus Dei priest.
Though Mailer and Schiller have different instincts, they've learned how
to work together through the years -- and believe that their approaches
complement one another. "We're interested in different aspects of (a
story), so we have our run-ins as a result," explains Mailer. "But on
balance we end up with a fairly rounded portrait of things. We discuss
things afterwards and we argue back and forth. I respect Larry's sense of
reality -- I think he might respect mine. There are times when we have
quite a bit of fun and there are other times when we're ready to punch
each other out," he laughed.
For MASTER SPY: THE ROBERT HANSSEN STORY, some of the interviews required
them to travel to other countries. Schiller flew to Germany to interview
Jack Hoschouer, the man with whom Hanssen had shared his sexual exploits,
and Mailer and Schiller went to Russia together to interview members of
the KGB that were involved with Hanssen.
Access to KGB Members in Moscow:
Schiller credits some of their past work in Moscow
as having helped them to open some doors for this endeavor: "Norman Mailer
and I went to Moscow in 1991, and I convinced the KGB to give us the Lee
Harvey Oswald files, which became a book called Oswald's Tale, on
which I collaborated with Mailer. The way we handled that subject matter
earned us a certain respect by the internal security forces of the Soviet
Union. So when I went back in 2001 and asked that Viktor Cherkashin and
Leonid Vladimirovich Sherbashin, two of the highest ranking KGB officials,
grant Mr. Mailer and I interviews, the people who had said no to other
well-respected television and print journalists invited Mailer and I to a
dinner. We flew to Moscow and we started a series of tape-recorded
conversations with Cherkashin and Sherbashin that I think are quite
extraordinary. We asked hypothetical questions that were apropos to
Hanssen. We discussed what it was like to deal with people that were
giving away secrets from their own country, how they would deal with (a
mole) when they didn't know who he/she was (as in Hanssen's case), etc.
They really gave us an incredible amount of information."
Asked if he was surprised by the access they got with the former KGB
officials in Moscow and FBI agents in the U.S., Mailer laughs and says:
"Larry has psychic keys that open mysterious doors. How he does it, I
don't know sometimes -- but he's very, very good at that. Left on my own I
might say okay if denied access, but Larry never gives up."
Hanssen's Family's Participation:
Per Schiller, "Some of the closest members of
(Hanssen's) family visited with Norman and I at Norman's home and at my
home, gave us extensive interviews and then introduced us to other members
of the family when they felt secure about how we were approaching this.
They didn't want their father to be whitewashed. They weren't interested
in a pretty picture to counter the image that the United States government
was portraying. We told them, 'We want to feel the reality of what your
life was like. It's not always going to be the perfect picture.' I think
that kind of straightforwardness is what bonded us. They then introduced
us to members of Bonnie's family -- her brothers, etc. Before we knew it,
the circle of confidentiality grew, and we were able at any time to pick
up the phone and ask a technical question. They even arranged for us to be
at certain social gatherings so we could see how the family interacted."
As to whether or not Bonnie Hanssen granted them an interview, Schiller
responds: "I don't discuss if Bonnie Hanssen cooperated or not because she
has kept her privacy, and I respect that privacy. I can only say that the
most intimate and closest members of Robert Hanssen's family in one way or
another cooperated, not in the making of this film, but in giving us a
proper understanding from their point of view."
Per Schiller, details about Hanssen's childhood -- and his challenged
relationship with his late father that is featured in this mini-series --
came from his mother and indirectly from Hanssen through his children and
others. "I had several telephone conversations with his mother in Florida.
And, after his arrest, Hanssen revealed information about his father to
several people -- which was then relayed to us. Hanssen's own children
were among the people who had heard about it from him when they met with
their father in jail, and we talked to them about it. So it was all
authenticated from more than one source."
The FBI's Assistance: "The FBI cooperated with the production by not only
giving access to Hanssen's former colleagues (such as David Major, who was
Hanssen's boss's boss, and Agent Paul Moore, who car-pooled with Hanssen),
but by giving access to the agents involved in the case [which included]
an anonymous agent who was involved in Hanssen's capture, with whom I
spent hours, [and] even FBI agents who worked with Hanssen whom we used as
technical advisors." Schiller was, indeed, surprised by their openness
with him for this project. "I think they've gotten to a point where they
need to acknowledge their mistakes. I think they feel they will be better
respected if they're honest."
The Quest for Accuracy:
Authenticating the Script:
"What I didn't want it to become was a docudrama
where the emphasis was on the drama rather than the docu," explains
Mailer. "(The mini-series) is a journalistic interpretation (of Hanssen)
in the sense that we certainly tried to be as accurate as we could…
Whenever possible, we stayed with the interviews. But there's no such
thing as writing a movie script about a real person that does not have a
lot of invented dialogue. We were trying to come as close as we could to
what the best evidence suggests the reality might have been."
Adds Schiller, "Most of Hanssen's dialogue is based on what his children
told us, his closest friends told us, what their beliefs were, how he
thought about certain subjects and how he acted. But in fact, Mr. Mailer
has written dialogue that is totally fiction because we were not allowed
to interview Mr. Hanssen. But we think that we've come as close to
portraying what Hanssen was about, certainly closer than he could have
ever explained if he sat and gave us interviews, because an interview with
Hanssen would be self-serving and would not have journalistic
objectivity."
In addition to the relying on interviews and making use of technical
advisors from the FBI, Schiller sought to authenticate sections of the
script in other ways. "When Mailer finished the screenplay and I started
to structure and edit it, I sent it to Cherkashin and Sherbashin in Moscow
for their comments. Surprisingly, they had very few comments except to
say, 'If you ever come to Moscow to film it, we will cooperate.' And, when
we went to film in Moscow we met with them. Much to my surprise, these two
men, whose faces are not known to the world -- who aren't even publicized
in their own Russian press -- agreed to appear in a scene in the film
playing themselves. And it is really their stamp of accreditation to us,
validating that part of the story as being authentic. They would not
participate in a film that did not at least give an authentic
representation."
"Oleg Kalugin, a former officer of the KGB who masqueraded as a journalist
for a number of years, also assisted us," continued Schiller. "He
described the safe room in the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C. and how
the air conditioner was used to ward off the FBI from listening to them.
Kalugin actually plays himself in the film in a scene. Again, that was
another vote of support that at least the Soviet side of the story as it
related to Hanssen -- the political points of view, the climate and all of
that -- was correct."
Into the Mirror (Hanssen's scripted inner
monologue):
Throughout the mini-series, there are many moments
when Hanssen is talking to himself in the mirror. "The mirror became a
metaphor for what was going on in his mind," says Mailer. "I'm just
guessing that this is the sort of dialogue that that went on in his mind."
Adds Schiller, "This is what the character is emotionally going through at
that moment which drives those scenes…."
When asked if there is evidence that Hanssen would talk to himself in the
mirror, Schiller responds: "Without naming members of the family, they
told us that several times -- since they all shared a couple bathrooms -
that they would be ready to enter the bathroom and discover that their
father was there. And, they would hear him talking. On one occasion, the
door was open and another member of the family did see him talking to the
mirror. Another member of the family saw him just standing and staring
into a bedroom mirror for a long period of time, so one can only assume he
was in very deep thought."
Schiller and Mailer also interviewed the psychiatrist who had interviewed
Hanssen for 43 hours after he was incarcerated. Says Schiller: "He told us
that Hanssen was haunted by his father's voice and various things that his
father had done to him. This psychiatrist told us that based on his
experience, people with a childhood that haunts them usually find that the
mirror becomes a safe haven -- and yet at times the mirror attacks them."
The Actors Meet Their Real-Life Counterparts:
Schiller managed to coordinate for several of the
actors to meet with the appropriate real-life people to help them with
their roles. Hoschouer met with William Hurt (who plays Hanssen) and David
Strathairn (who plays Hoschouer). A few of Hanssen's children and the
Hanssen's Opus Dei priest, Father C. John McCloskey III, met with Hurt and
Mary-Louise Parker (who plays Bonnie). Wayne Knight met Paul Moore, one of
several FBI agents that contributed to Knight's composite character, and
Ron Silver, who actually attended Hanssen's sentencing with Schiller, met
with David Major, who contributed to the composite character of Hanssen's
FBI boss played by Silver. "So by the time we started filming, we had
gathered the confidence and the support of the closest members of that
family and others who met with our actors," says Schiller, with a
satisfied smile. "This was not something that we entered blindly."
The Project's Scope:
Shooting on location around the Globe:
"This story didn't
take place just in Washington, D.C. or in people's homes," explains
Schiller. "It also took place in Moscow, in Hong Kong, in Hawaii…. Coming
from a journalistic background as I do, I went to all these locations to
research it and then I made the decision to film in all these locations at
a great cost. Normally productions like this don't travel all around the
world, but we did do that." Rich locations include the Kremlin and the
military academy in Moscow; the floating restaurant where Hanssen had
dined in Hong Kong; the Sheraton Waikiki in Hawaii where Hanssen had
vacationed with his wife; and in front of the White House, the Capitol and
the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Shooting at the FBI:
To Schiller's delight, the FBI permitted his
production to spend a Saturday shooting on their premises. "For the first
time in 10 years the FBI has allowed an entertainment company to shoot
inside the FBI. They allowed the filming of a story of a man who violated
the trust of the Bureau. The Bureau acknowledges it made tremendous
mistakes; I think it's a credit to the Bureau that they have matured to
that point. They even took William Hurt, Ron Silver and Wayne Knight into
the strategic secret command center of the FBI -- the bunker -- to give
them a feeling of authenticity (though the production didn't film there)."
Working with the FBI:
"The production designer, Michael Baugh, and I were
permitted to tour many of the floors of the FBI so we could recreate the
offices in our Toronto studios. We were allowed to photograph and take
measurements. We saw historical photographs. We saw all of these areas
that are highly secret. We even photographed the FBI bathrooms so we could
re-create a bathroom scene. We had complete cooperation. They also allowed
us to use retired FBI agents that worked with Hanssen as technical
advisors."
The Experience of Making the Mini-Series:
"The experience for me on each film is learning
about something I knew nothing about," says Schiller. "If I have a sense
of discovery and my actors have a sense of discovery, then I think it is
that we can portray riveting characters that tell a story that will be
interesting to a wide audience. The most important thing is for the
viewers to have an experience they didn't expect to have… I think they
will."
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