Republicans and Democrats alike were taken aback by the July 13, 2024, attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump, but it wasn’t the first time an assassin tried to alter American history with a gunshot. One of the men who attempted to assassinate a sitting president is now the subject of a new documentary, which also offers him the opportunity to share his own tale after more than three decades.
A non-fiction film called Hinckley (available for streaming on August 30) tells the story of John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981, as he was leaving the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. The crime and the admission that Hinckley had carried out his scheme to win over Jodie Foster—the adolescent starlet who had captivated him in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver—shook the country. Hinckley remained institutionalised until his release in 2016, having been found not guilty by reason of insanity. This allowed him to talk about his life and deeds in Neil McGregor’s upcoming documentary.
“My name is John Hinckley. The President of the United States was shot by me. In the movie’s theatrical trailer, Hinckley says, “When you shoot the president, you expect to be killed.” He also talks about his obsession with Foster, saying that he used to write and phone her because “that’s just what an obsessed person does.” He also acknowledges that he had a very irrational reason for wanting to kill Reagan, saying, “It’s a pretty big delusion to think you can shoot the President to impress somebody.”
Reagan’s declaration to “Make America Great Again” is evident in the footage, and Hinckley doesn’t sugarcoat the relevance of its tale to the present day.
Director McGregor states, “John Hinckley’s untold story has always been intended for an August 30 release and the timing is profoundly chilling with the failed assassination attempt on Trump.” The disturbing and relevant connections between Hinckley’s narrative and the present day underscore the dangerous confluence of celebrity, mental illness, and the shadowy side of the American ideal. This documentary is a wake-up call to spark a critical dialogue and greater knowledge, not just a movie.
Even though the documentary was undoubtedly finished before Trump’s assassination attempt, Hinckley himself gets an opportunity to comment on the narrative. In a recent profile published this week, The New York Times asked him about his thoughts on the shooting, to which he responded, “Well, I wish it hadn’t happened.”
View the exclusive trailer for the movie above. Hinckley is available for streaming as of August 30, 2024.