True-crime documentarians often employ the technique of filming dramatic re-creations to inform and amplify the story they’re telling—but “Captive Audience” director Jessica Dimmock didn’t have to stage any such scenes. She already had a treasure trove of material in the form of a two-part, 1989 NBC miniseries about her subject matter, titled “I Know My First Name is Steven.”
The acclaimed miniseries attracted a combined audience of more than 71 million viewers over the course of two evenings, with Cindy Pickett ( “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) and John Ashton (“Beverly Hills Cop” movies) as the parents of Steven Stayner, who was 7 years old when he was kidnapped in 1972 and miraculously returned home in 1979 at the age of 14. The filmmakers feature clips from the made-for-TV movie to augment the story—but also engage in the highly unusual and somewhat unsettling practice of having the actors who portrayed Steven and his older brother Cary reading from transcripts of interviews with the real Steven and Cary, conducted by screenwriter JP Miller (“Days of Wine and Roses,” “Helter Skelter”) as research for the NBC project. It’s strange to see these actors revisiting the characters they once portrayed—now reading the actual words of the subjects of the material.
