The Ryan Gosling Thriller Ripped From a Real-Life Nightmare

If all you've seen of Ryan Gosling lately is him singing along as Ken in 'Barbie' or doing his own stunts in 'The Fall Guy', you might be surprised to learn about one of his shadier entries from a while back: a thriller called 'All Good Things'. Not exactly a chart-topper, but it's got a backstory that's more twisted than most true crime documentaries, and plenty of weird connections to the real case it was based on.

London in the '70s? No, Try New York

'All Good Things' takes place in 1970s New York, even if the atmosphere's got a slight whiff of bank holiday gloom to it. Gosling is David Marks, the son of a rich real estate tycoon, who gets together with Katie McCarthy, a woman from the other end of the class system—played by Kirsten Dunst. Predictably, it all kicks off as a bit of a whirlwind romance, then rapidly devolves into the kind of relationship where 'it's complicated' doesn’t even begin to cover it.

David goes from charming boyfriend to absolute nightmare: controlling, violent, basically turning Katie's life into a mess. She tries to get out. What does she get for her trouble? Her finances get cut off—just perfect timing for someone trying to get through medical school. So, Katie starts sniffing around for dirt on the family's dodgy dealings, hoping she can use it as leverage. Then—she vanishes. Completely gone. The police have nothing, the case goes cold for a decade and a half.

Fast forward 15 years, and the case gets yanked back into the light when a district attorney reads a suspiciously close-to-home crime novel written by an old friend of David's. At this point, art and life start blending so closely it's almost on the nose.

The Real Villain: Robert Durst Steps In

David Marks is basically Robert Durst in all but name. The film maps fairly closely to the actual events around Durst and his wife, Kathleen McCormack. They met in the early 1970s, and within 18 months they were married—textbook whirlwind. If you believe Kathleen’s friends, though, things behind closed doors were ugly—Durst was allegedly controlling and at times violent.

When Kathleen disappeared in 1982, police didn’t have much doubt about where to look. They’d fought that night, and fought regularly. One of Kathleen's friends, Gilberte Najamy, seems to have done more actual police work than the detectives—she was phoning them daily when Kathleen vanished, reporting her as missing when she failed to show up for lunch. Oddly enough, it took Durst a week to officially mention to anyone that his wife had disappeared.

Three weeks before Katie went missing, she ended up in A&E with a busted face and told a friend Durst had hit her. Even with all that, the police still never managed to pin anything on him—so for over 20 years, the case just sat gathering dust.

From Fiction to Full-On Confession

Near the end of 'All Good Things', the plot brings in two more murders that echo the more bizarre parts of Durst’s actual life. In December 2000, Susan Berman—one of Durst’s inner circle and reportedly his alibi provider—turns up dead in her home in LA. Not long after, in Texas, 71-year-old Morris Black is murdered. Durst is now a clear suspect, and for the first time, actually gets nicked and dragged into court. He goes on the run while out on bail but eventually lands back inside. Oddly, he’s acquitted of murder (only in America), but does a stretch for bail jumping and evidence tampering—serves three years, and he’s out by 2005.

Now, here’s the part that’s almost impossible to believe: 'All Good Things' came out, and apparently, Durst liked it—or at least, it rankled him enough to finally go on record about the murders. For decades, he said nothing, but agreed to sit down with Andrew Jarecki, the film’s director. Those interviews turned into the HBO series 'The Jinx', which is infamous for one clip: Durst, still miked up, muttering, "Killed them all, of course," in the loo.

"Killed them all, of course."
- Robert Durst, caught on microphone in 'The Jinx'

The TV series was the domino that finally tipped. Durst actually faced justice: convicted in 2021 for killing Susan Berman and sentenced to life behind bars. The authorities also charged him that year in the murder of Kathleen. He died before he could be tried for that one.

Key Cast - 'All Good Things'

• Ryan Gosling: David Marks (Robert Durst-alike, as charming as he is terrifying)
• Kirsten Dunst: Katie McCarthy (based on Kathleen McCormack, not just a wide-eyed victim)
• Frank Langella: Sanford Marks (the icy family patriarch)
• Lily Rabe, Nick Offerman, Kristen Wiig: In various supporting roles
• Director: Andrew Jarecki
• Writers: Marcus Hinchey, Marc Smerling