by Lily Suicide

On May 5, 1993, three young boys, Chris Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch, were brutally murdered in the town of West Memphis, Arkansas. Grieving and looking for answers, the town allegedly bypassed evidence pointing at probable suspects. Instead, they prosecuted three teenage boys who were unconventional for the town of West Memphis. The boys, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Miskelly, wore black and listened to heavy metal music. They would later come to be known as the West Memphis Three.

There was what many critics call a coerced confession from Jessie Misskelly, who had a below average IQ. Jessie Miskelly recanted his statement the next day, stating that he had been put under extreme pressure and psychological warfare by the West Memphis police, but by then it was too late and the fate of three young men rested uneasily in the hands of the judicial system. They were convicted of murder in early ’’94. Jessie Miskelly got life plus 40, Jason Baldwin received life without parole and Damien Echols – at only 18 years of age – was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Luckily, there were cameras in the courtroom, and they were used for the making of the HBO documentary Paradise Lost. Burk Sauls first saw Paradise Lost in August of ’96. He watched it and watched it again. At the end he was always left with the same feeling that many other people were left with: “with a lot of empty spaces, unanswered questions and doubts.” Many people became angry after watching Paradise Lost. Burk Sauls, Kathy Bakken, and Grove Pashley decided to do something about it. They launched the WM3.org website and the West Memphis Three support group, as well as eventually appearing in the sequel to the first HBO documentary, Paradise Lost 2.

I caught up with Burk to talk about the case, as well as Damien Echols’ memoir Almost Home, written on death row.

Read our exclusive interview with Burk Sauls Of The West Memphis Three Support Group on SuicideGirls.com.

by A.J. Focht

The thought of any remake is normally enough to make me cringe. When a cult classic like Evil Dead gets set for a reboot, my first reaction is to grab my torch and pitchfork. But with both Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell involved in the project, it’s hard not give it my support. Campbell recently commented on the movie, reassuring horror fans that they aren’t just ‘farting out a sequel.’ He had this to say about the project and the new director:

[..]

by A.J. Focht

Superheroes swarmed the geek news again this last week with several major announcements from all sides. Warner Bros kicked the week off revealing Laurence Fishburne would be playing the role of Perry White in Man of Steel. Shortly thereafter, they released the first look at Henry Cavill as Superman. Despite the recent script problems, Superman is set to fly back into theaters on June 14, 2013.

Warner Bros didn’t stop there. The first official photo of Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises was released soon after the Superman photo. The outfit pays some homage to the more ‘tactical’ look of the comic books, but gives absolutely no feline resemblance. This has only fueled the theory that Hathaway will actually be playing the role as Selina Kyle, and may not become Catwoman at all.

[..]

by Marisa DiMattia

Chris O’Donnell doesn’t have the rock star swagger. He hasn’t learned the art diva shtick nor developed an eye-catching wardrobe. Yet he’s one of the most sought after tattoo artists in New York by serious collectors and celebrities alike. It’s his work that garners all the attention while the boy-next-door persona sits quietly in the background.

Named one of the best tattooers in NYC by Time Out Magazine, Chris has been needling clients since 1993, specializing in classic Americana, Japanese, and East Asian iconography.

Read our exclusive interview with Chris O’Donnell on SuicideGirls.com.

By Andrea Larrabee

“You’re going to get so sick of me,” quipped Olivia Wilde, when a journalist at a recent press conference noted that she was “going to be everywhere in the next couple of weeks.” Though it’s true we’re going to see a lot of Wilde (who took her stage name from a certain Oscar), the likelihood that we’ll tire of the actress – who is as smart as she is attractive – in the immediate future is slim to none.

She first came into her own as Thirteen in House, but her role as Quorra in the 2010 blockbuster Tron: Legacy firmly established her as big screen leading lady material. This summer she has two major films opening back to back: Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens, which also features Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, and The Change-Up, which is, by and large, the topic of this Q&A.

Styled after classic body swap movies like Freaky Friday, the set up for The Change-Up sees Dave, the over-stressed and over-married lawyer (Jason Bateman), and his BFF Mitch, the too happy go lucky and very single actor/stoner/whatever (Ryan Reynolds), coveting each other’s lives. Wilde enters the frame as Sabrina, an associate at Dave’s law firm whom the guys mutually covet, however she refused to play her as your run of the mill, caught between two men, one-dimensional love interest.

The daughter of two renowned journalists, it’s perhaps instinctive that Wilde worked closely with the film’s writers, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (of Hangovers 1 and 2), and director David Dobkin (Friends With Benefits and Wedding Crashers) to ensure that Sabrina jumped off the page as a fully fleshed out, post-modern woman. Though the film is somewhat flawed, it’s these moments that she brought to the table –– such as a tattoo scene in which a gaggle of Sons of Anarchy-types gather between her well-spread thighs –– that are among the film’s most memorable.

Here Wilde talks about why she took on Sabrina, and how she avoided the stereotypes associated with such a roll.

Read our exclusive interview with Olivia Wilde on SuicideGirls.com.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

Over the past 15 years Jae Lee has become one of the most stylish and innovative comic book artists in recent memory. He burst onto the scene with a stint on Namor the Sub-Mariner and since then has worked on dozens of other books from Fantastic Four to The Sentry to his creator owned Hellshock.

But recently Jae Lee has a wild time throwing himself headfirst into the horror genre by working with two of the great horror creators, by proxy. I use that word because currently he is working on a series of comic book miniseries based on the Stephen King novels The Dark Tower with the legendary Peter David doing the dialogue. But I was lucky enough to get to talk with Lee about his work creating the pictures for The Illustrated Dracula.

Read our exclusive interview with Jae Lee on SuicideGirls.com.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

If I didn’t know better I would think David Lynch was Italian. He uses his hands to describe ideas more than anyone I have ever met. It’s fascinating to watch this man communicate. He pulls out the cigarette pack, the lighter, moves the ashtray, lights the cigarette, puts the pack away the and then, once his hands are free, resumes emphasizing his words with enigmatic gestures.

[..]