The true story of Charles Cullen, the murderer on which Netflix’s ‘The Angel of Death’ is based

‘The Angel of Death’ is based on the true story of Charles Cullen, a nurse who was found guilty of murdering 29 people, although he is suspected of having killed more than 400, which would make him the most prolific serial killer in the United States. The story of how he was brought to justice revolves around the bravery and quiet resilience of a fellow nurse named Amy Loughren.

With the title released in the Netflix movie catalog, and starring Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain, Digital Spy sat down with the real Amy Loughren to talk about what changed the moviehow it feels to remember his life 20 years ago and his former friendship with a serial killer.

According to Loughren, what the film achieved, even in its deviations from fact, was emotional truth. Still, seeing her “was very emotional.”

In hindsight, it’s hard to imagine feeling anything other than respect for Loughren, but it wasn’t always the case.

“Seeing Jessica play a version of me from 20 years ago and finally being able to feel proud of what I did… I couldn’t do it.“, he explained.

“I wasn’t really able to do it until I saw Jessica, because she was always judging me. It was a judgment for not seeing it before, a judgment for getting into a friendship with someone so dark.”

“I couldn’t forgive myself for a long time and the fact that he was hurting people right in front of me… I just couldn’t let it go. And no matter how much spiritual journey I’ve done in these 20 years to put that behind me and give it some kind of reasoning, I still couldn’t let go of who I was 20 years ago. Y [Jessica] allowed me to forgive myself.”

There are parts of the movie that are, of course, true: Amy was a night nurse, but she came from a small town in upstate New York called Oneonta (“stoneonta” Amy calls it, jokingly). He had daughters, but a big change from the real story in the movie is that Charlie never met them..

“That part was a way for Christie to understand how close we were,” Loughren continues.

“If I had lived closer to the hospital we would have done things together. We would have made a lot of social life together. So those things, even if they were fictional, there was an absolute possibility that I would have been there with my daughters.”

As for the plot mechanics, all of that is true. Amy wasn’t forced to do anything by the detectives, but she admits it was “difficult” to watch part of the fictional story unfold.

Loughren added: “It was very hard to see how it was fictionalized. I had to step away from that and realize it was a dramatization“.

“It made me nervous that Amy from 20 years ago seemed like a victim instead of the fighting person she was., because it was. She was working very hard. She was working hard at being a mother. She was working hard to be a nurse. I was working hard to try and save my life.”

As in the film, Amy was actually dealing with life-threatening heart disease and applauded the production for the way it shines a light on how inhospitable America’s healthcare system can be.

“Once we started capitalizing on people’s suffering and seeing dollar signs, we lost the heart and soul of what we really do.” [como proveedores de atención sanitaria]Loughren said candidly.

“You’re a number, a diagnosis, you’re not even a patient anymore. They strip you naked, put you in a uniform. It’s almost like being incarcerated, isn’t it?” This parallelism is brilliantly drawn by the sound design.

The film also shows how hospitals prioritize their own profit and reputation over the safety and well-being of their patients.. This is distilled into Kim Dickens’ character, Linda Garran.

“Seeing her allow the bureaucracy and the fear of losing her job… What did she choose? She chose the same dark path as Charlie,” he continued.

As for Charlie himself, Redmayne said much of his work on Charlie as a character was informed by Loughren’s descriptions..

He tells us, “It was hard to see Eddie really channeling my friend Charlie and being able to capture those moments where he was having real human issues and everyday issues.”

It is understandable that the Charlie we see on screen is similar to the Charlie that Amy remembers..

“He was a very funny, soft-spoken guy,” she muses, “it’s almost like he drew you into his energy.”

“You had to get closer to him to hear what he was saying, to be able to understand any of his words. And he was that smart.”

“I saw Eddie embody that. He definitely took all the notes that I gave him, given to him by Charles Graber (author of the book), and he used them“.

Unlike some hospital killers, Charlie Cullen was not a “merciful killer” -Loughren does not hesitate to underline it- and the film does not portray it as such.

“Many times I’ve been told, ‘Well, he was a pious killer. He wanted to put people out of their misery.’ And that’s not true. It’s not true,” says Loughren.