Tabloid Scandal
Before Rebekah Brooks and News of the World, There Was Joyce McKinney and Her "Manacled Mormon"
The final Harry Potter movie conjured a heck of a red carpet last night, but in a way, the more sensational cinematic experience was downtown, where documentary filmmaker Errol Morris screened his latest, Tabloid, at the IFC Center for a crowd that included Spike Jonze and Kirsten Dunst.
Through interviews and animations, the film relates the bizarre tale of Joyce McKinney, a former beauty queen who followed the Mormon man she loved to England. Allegedly, she then abducted him, strapped him to a bed, and had her way with the object of her unrestrained affection for three days. McKinney's arrest and court hearing generated some of the juiciest headlines of the seventies and ignited a war between the British tabloids, with the Daily Express portraying her as the embodiment of love unleashed, and the Daily Mirror and The Sun caricaturing her as a seasoned bondage pro.
Throughout the screening, choice phrases like "Manacled Mormon" had Courtney Love guffawing in her seat. But the film dances irresistibly between the relatable and the absurd. "There's something deep and essential about tabloid stories," Morris said, before making his way to the after-party at Carlos Quirarte and Matt Kliegman's new joint, The Westway (which, in a reversal of plans, turns out not to be a strip club). Continued Morris, "They're stories that are about everybody and nobody, the ordinary and the excessive."
Morris may have gotten more than he bargained for with this one: McKinney showed up at a recent L.A. screening in a sequin jumpsuit and harangued him, and has threatened a lawsuit. But Dunst, who was seeing Tabloid for the second time in a week, said she considers the whole saga actor’s gold: “I want to play her in a movie!”
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