Unabomber on Netflix: What the Movie Got Right and Wrong About Ted Kaczynski
Netflix's new thriller "Unabomber" dramatizes the life of Ted Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated math prodigy who became one of the most notorious domestic terrorists in American history. But how much of the movie actually happened?
The film, which premiered on Netflix on September 25, stars Jacob Tremblay as a young Kaczynski, Russell Crowe as Harvard psychologist Henry Murray and Shailene Woodley as FBI agent Joanne Miller. It was directed by Janus Metz and moves between Kaczynski's Harvard years in the 1950s and the FBI manhunt in the 1990s, according to What's on Netflix.
The Real Unabomber Case
Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski mailed or planted homemade bombs that killed three people and injured 23 others. In 1995, The Washington Post, in cooperation with The New York Times, published his 35,000-word manifesto at the FBI's urging. He was arrested at his remote cabin in Montana in April 1996, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. He died in federal custody in 2023.
What the Movie Got Right
Kaczynski was a child prodigy. True. He was a gifted mathematician who skipped two grades and entered Harvard at just 16, TV Insider reported.
Murray's experiments were psychologically harsh. True, to a degree. Students in Murray's study were led to believe they would debate a fellow student, then faced a trained attorney who attacked their personal beliefs. Kaczynski later described the experience as distressing and deceptive. However, there is no evidence Murray secretly recorded conversations, as shown in the film.
Murray had ties to intelligence work. True. Murray worked with the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner to the CIA, during World War II, developing ways to assess recruits. His later Harvard experiments put participants under intense stress.
An early manuscript helped crack the case. Mostly true. A 1971 essay titled "Progress Versus Liberty" helped strengthen the FBI's case. But it was not the FBI that first made the connection.
CBS nearly broke the story early. Mostly true. CBS reporter Jim Stewart learned Kaczynski's name and location before his arrest. The network initially agreed to hold the story for two to three days, not just until the end of the day as shown in the film, and reported it on April 3, 1996, as agents moved in.
What the Movie Got Wrong
David Kaczynski's motive. In the film, Ted's brother contacts the FBI to prove that his brother is "not a killer." In reality, David and his wife, Linda Patrik, noticed similarities between the Unabomber's published manifesto and Ted's earlier writings. David went to authorities to stop the violence.
Murray as a mentor. The movie portrays a closer, friendlier bond between the two. In real life, Kaczynski was simply one of Murray's test subjects.
Agent Joanne Miller. Woodley's character is fictional, a composite of investigators. Her solo visit to Kaczynski's cabin was invented for the film.
Forged letters. The film shows Kaczynski taking revenge on Murray by forging letters. That storyline was created for dramatic effect and never happened.
Another True-Crime Pick for Viewers
"Unabomber" joins a busy stretch of true-crime stories on screen. A new Manson Family documentary is challenging the official murder motive, and Melissa McCarthy has opened up about playing JonBenet's mother in a project about the JonBenet Ramsey case.
Tremblay has said his version of Kaczynski is "a character who has no idea who the Unabomber is," focusing on the young man before he became infamous. Director Metz described Crowe's Murray as "seductive and charismatic."
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