Did Rodney Alcala, the woman of the hour, really study under Roman Polanski?

Warning! This post contains spoilers for Woman of the Hour.

Woman of the hourRodney Alcala mentions that he studied under Roman Polanski, leaving one wondering if the real-life serial killer he’s based on has any real-life connections to the famous director. Almost throughout its run time, Woman of the hour Primarily focuses on detailing the story behind Rodney Alcala’s appearance on The dating game Before he was convicted of multiple violent crimes. However, to highlight that he had a criminal history even before he ended up on the game show, the Anna Kendrick true story thriller also goes through some of his previous murders.

For example, it shows how Rodney Alcala murders a flight attendant in Manhattan after she accepts his help to move some furniture to her new apartment. Before attacking the flight attendants in the movie, Alcala talks to her about his background in filmmaking and reveals that he briefly studied under Rosemary’s babys director, Roman Polanski. Since Woman of the hourThese true story explorations are not exempt from creative freedom, it’s hard not to wonder if the serial killer was Roman Polanski’s student at some point.

Rodney Alcala actually attended Roman Polanski’s class in New York

He took a class from him in New York

Rodney Alcala’s first known crime was in 1968. He kidnapped 8-year-old Tali Shapiro by lying to her that he knew her family and sexually assaulted and physically abused her before the police arrived to rescue the girl.

to avoid the arrest warrant for the crime, Rodney Alcala left California and went to New York. in New YorkHe enrolled at New York University although he had previously graduated from the UCLA School of Fine Arts. According to some reports, it is where he took a filmmaking class under Roman Polanski, confirming the movie’s account to be true.

Like Rodney Alcala attended NYU

He changed his name after his first brush with the Torah

After the 1968 assault, Rodney Alcala was registered as a sex offender. In 1971, the FBI even added him to the list of ten most wanted fugitives. However, despite his criminal background, he was able to attend NYU because he changed his identity after fleeing California. in order not to arrest, Alcala registered as “John Berger” in New York. He later changed his name to “John Burger” before landing a counseling job at a New Hampshire art camp for children.

Around the same time, he also worked for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where serial killer Richard Cottingham was also employed. However, Alcala was eventually caught when two kids from the art camp noticed his picture on an FBI poster in a post office. Due to its limited runtime, Woman of the hour Avoid delving too deeply into this segment of Rodney Alcala’s story. It still hints that Rodney Alcala has a long history of crimes before he was cast as one of the contestants in The dating game.