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True crime is about to get weirder. That\u2019s the prediction of Andrew Farrell, head of factual entertainment at Australian production company CJZ and an executive producer of Con Girl<\/i>, a four-part documentary about the bizarre case of Sydney conwoman Samantha Azzopardi who was notorious for posing as a child.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stories have to be stranger and stranger to make it onto Netflix,\u201d explains Farrell, whose credits include Deadly Women<\/i>, Murder in the Outback<\/i> about the Peter Falconio disappearance, and Undercurrent<\/i>, about the Susan Neill-Fraser conviction.<\/p>\n
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Emma Krieg plays convicted conwoman Samantha Azzopardi in the true-crime documentary Con Girl. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople have seen so many true-crime stories, it has to be something weirder to grab your attention. Expect Tinder Swindler<\/i> meets Tiger King<\/i> \u2013 that\u2019s what\u2019s coming up in the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n Con Girl<\/i>, which makes its Australian debut on the Seven Network after launching earlier this year to US audiences on Paramount+, ticks all those boxes. Along with the 35-year-old\u2019s most infamous crimes, like posing as a mute 14-year-old potential sex-trafficking victim in Dublin in 2013 and, in 2019, abducting a small child and a baby from a Melbourne home where she worked as an au pair under a false identity and dressing as a schoolgirl and travelling to Bendigo, a string of other peculiar cons comes to light.<\/p>\n The case of Azzopardi, a woman who deceived multiple targets for no financial gain, while inflicting serious psychological damage, baffles even the experts interviewed for the series. From an entertainment perspective, such a rare and intriguing story is gold.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re evolving into bloodless, or body-less crimes now,\u201d Farrell explains. \u201cWe\u2019re not always telling stories about murder, or the interior life of an American serial killer. We\u2019re talking about things that aren\u2019t quite as gory or icky. Also, a lot of true crime is dealing with horrendous violence against women, especially with American serial killers, and I think people might have had enough of that. They\u2019re interested in explorations of other strange behaviour, and it\u2019s strange behaviour at the extreme end of the spectrum, which is so fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n Con Girl producer Andrew Farrell believes true-crime stories are about to get weirder. <\/span><\/p>\n Such \u201cbloodless\u201d true-crime series are designed to appeal to the citizen forensic psychiatrist, as much as our detective instincts.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s one of our intentions,\u201d says Farrell. \u201cOur question is, \u2018Why did she do it?\u2019 Also, what are the things about the way cons operate and the way we\u2019re wired as humans and receive stories that we believe them? Often, we look at people who\u2019ve been the victims of cons and can be a bit disdainful. But once you get inside the world and understand the sophistication of how these people work on them, there\u2019s a fascinating story to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside the accounts of several of Azzopardi\u2019s victims, are dramatisation sequences without dialogue.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way we do dramatisation has changed a lot, and it\u2019s partly fashion. People go for different looks; new technology allows you to do fancy things. But there\u2019s been an ethical change as well. The kinds of re-creations I do today, compared with what I might have done 15 years ago, are a lot more subtle. We\u2019re more conscious about depicting violence and having empathy for the victims. True crime can get a bit cartoonish. You\u2019ve got to remember that these are real people.\u201d<\/p>\n While not at liberty to reveal the next curious true crime on his slate, Farrell is following with interest the recent Leongatha mushroom poisonings.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been having discussions about that, along with half the other producers,\u201d he admits. \u201cFrom a technical perspective, it\u2019s too soon because there\u2019s no crime yet. But internationally, people are fascinated by that case. It has cut through around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n As fiercely competitive as true crime is in the industry, Farrell is reluctant to call it a boom.<\/p>\n \u201cTrue crime is one of the oldest kinds of stories,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s about massive transgression. It\u2019s about life and death, and deception. It\u2019s big, dramatic themes. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a craze, but as audiences consume more, they\u2019re becoming more sophisticated about what they will watch, and what they\u2019ll tolerate. It\u2019s not going to go away.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n