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Love is a Crime — Film History
Love is a Crime

It’s one of the wildest scandals in Hollywood history: In 1951, major Hollywood producer Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) went to prison for shooting an agent who he suspected was having an affair with Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel), Wanger’s actress wife. When the dust settled, Wanger was accepted back into Hollywood’s inner circle with open arms, while a puritan panic virtually ended Bennett’s career in movies and her family would never be the same. How did Joan — the youngest member of one of America’s most famous acting families, and one of the key femme fatales of 1940s film noir — end up a real-life fallen woman, paying a public price for her husband’s crimes? In this limited podcast series, Joan and Walter’s granddaughter/filmmaker Vanessa Hope, and film historian/podcaster Karina Longworth (You Must Remember This), tell the untold story of the Bennett/Wanger romance and professional partnership — a film noir played out in real life.

Copyright: © 2021

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Episode 10: The Woman in the Window Oct 19, 2021

In one last noir twist, Joan marries for a fourth and final time to a man with a secret life. The last chapter of our story takes us from the Greenwich Village cross-dressing scene of the 1960s, to the set of Dario Argento’s giallo classic, Suspiria (Joan’s last film), to post-reunification Berlin, where Bennett’s legacy as a key face of film noir is solidified. What are the lasting reverberations of the violent act Walter Wanger committed in 1951 -- on Joan Bennett’s family, on film culture, politics and society? What, if anything, would be different today?

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Episode 9: Dark Shadows Oct 12, 2021

While the shooting seems to enhance Wanger’s reputation in Hollywood’s eyes, the media frenzy that follows enacts a sharp price on the lives of Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel) and her children. Joan is forced to make a living largely through grueling touring theater. By the mid-1950s, Joan is essentially blacklisted from Hollywood movies, but her acting career gets a final boost, when Joan is cast in the legendary daytime supernatural soap, Dark Shadows, and acquires a whole new generation of fans.

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Episode 8: I Want to Live! Oct 05, 2021

Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) emerges from prison, and relaunches his career by producing several important films inspired by his experience, including the Oscar-winning I Want to Live!, and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. He sinks his newly re-acquired power into one final, major folly: Cleopatra. Working with Elizabeth Taylor as she and Richard Burton are in the midst of one of the 20th century’s biggest adultery scandals gives Walter a newfound understanding of what he went through with Joan. Also featuring Lili Anolik from the podcast Once Upon a Time in the Valley.

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Episode 7: The Shooting Sep 28, 2021

In December 1951, Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) points his gun at Jennings Lang’s (Griffin Dunne) groin and fires -- and Joan Bennett’s (Zooey Deschanel) life and that of her family will never be the same. Though it’s her husband who commits a shocking act of violence, and it’s he who is actually sent to jail, Joan finds herself painted in the press as the perpetrator. As Hollywood and America rally around the gun-toting man, the adulterous woman is thrown to the wolves to fend for herself and her family. Also featuring Brian Comstock as Police Chief.

Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac

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Episode 6: Man Hunt Sep 21, 2021

In the years after World War II, the political climate abruptly shifts, and Walter Wanger’s (Jon Hamm) history of using movies to promote progressive causes makes him a target for persecution. Wanger’s personal and professional lives are thrown into chaos thanks to a conspiracy involving the FBI, the Bank of America and some of the same anti-communist organizations enforcing the Hollywood Blacklist. With Walter in crisis, Joan’s (Zooey Deschanel) career is revived thanks to her agent and lover Jennings Lang. Afraid of losing his wife, Walter contemplates desperate action. Also featuring Bobby Finger from the podcast Who Weekly as Eric Johnston, Nate DiMeo from The Memory Palace as Samuel Goldwyn, and John August from Scriptnotes as Dore Schary.

Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac

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Episode 5: The Apartment Sep 14, 2021

The third member of the Bennett/Wanger love triangle is Jennings Lang (Griffin Dunne), an agent at MCA, then the largest talent agency in the world. In 1951, Lang represents a threat to Walter Wanger’s marriage, but also to his livelihood. Jennings’ son and former colleagues discuss the affair, how the relationship inspired the Oscar-winning Billy Wilder classic The Apartment, and how Lang survived both Walter’s bullet and jokes about having his “balls shot off” to dominate the next incarnation of the studio system for the television age. Also featuring Noah Segan as Jay Kanter.

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Episode 4: The Reckless Moment Sep 07, 2021

Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) bets everything on a different Joan -- Joan of Arc, starring Ingrid Bergman-- and comes up short, as the actress playing the saint sparks an international sex scandal. With Walter’s fame and fortune seemingly running out, he becomes consumed with trying to make three adultery-themed films, which ironically draws his attentions away from his own family and marriage – causing a neglected Joan (Zooey Deschanel) to turn to her young agent for companionship.

Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac

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Episode 3: Scarlet Street Aug 31, 2021

Collaborating with mad genius Fritz Lang, Joan (Zooey Deschanel) and Walter (Jon Hamm) hit the peak of both their careers and their marriage. After the success of the ultimate S&M noir Scarlet Street, Joan continues to play femme fatales on-screen, while cultivating an image as the perfect housewife and mom off-screen. But, with one misbegotten psychosexual noir, the partnership with Fritz Lang falls apart. Suddenly, everything Joan and Walter have built will be in peril.

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Episode 2: The Man I Married Aug 24, 2021

Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) transforms Joan Bennett’s (Zooey Deschanel) acting career by giving her a makeover. Now a raven-haired woman of mystery, Joan does her part during WWII by appearing in more anti-Nazi films than any other major American actress, while also authoring a book aimed at women that combines diet tips with calls for political engagement. Her new look is perfect for a new identity as a film noir femme fatale.

Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac

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Episode 1: Private Worlds Aug 17, 2021

Already a divorced mom while still in her teens, Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel) becomes a movie actress out of financial necessity, but she struggles to define herself as a star. Her life takes a turn when she falls in love with Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm)--an independent producer and champion of progressive politics who wants to change Hollywood from within. Also featuring, Griffin Dunne as Jennings Lang, Mara Wilson as Constance Bennett, and Adam Mortimer, as Richard Bennett.

Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac

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Introducing Love is a Crime Aug 10, 2021

When Hollywood mogul Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) shot an agent he suspected was having an affair with his actress wife, Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel) — one of the key femme fatales of 1940s film noir — Bennett was the one who paid a public price for her husband’s crimes. Joan and Walter’s granddaughter/filmmaker Vanessa Hope, and film historian/podcaster Karina Longworth (You Must Remember This), tell the untold story of the Bennett/Wanger romance and professional partnership — a film noir played out in real life.

The first episode launches Tuesday, August 17. Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac

Apple Podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime
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Stitcher: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-google

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