Shannon and Eric Evangelista (The Curious Case of Natalia Grace) spent 11 years filming what would turn into The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle. Because the title says, Kyle has lived a cat-esque variety of lives — the method of unraveling them has most likely taken a couple of years off the Evangelistas’ lives.
Up to now, the decade-plus effort has netted 4 hours of tv for Investigation Discovery (however you’ll watch it on HBO Max). The husband-and-wife documentarian team believes you’ll see extra quickly.
“It lends itself to another season,” Shannon Evangelista instructed The Hollywood Reporter. “It all sets a stage for a new part where we sit him down and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’”
There’s rather a lot happening, and the Evangelistas haven’t turned off their cameras since they went up in 2014.
The “him” right here is “Benjaman Kyle,” a now-77-year-old man who has claims to endure from an particularly curious case of amnesia, one which erased all of his reminiscences from 1983-2004 and selectively focused any clues that might uncover his former id. I hate when that occurs, although perhaps not as a lot as Eric Evangelista does.
“This amnesia doesn’t exist,” he instructed THR. “It’s like you’re watching General Hospital with your grandma in 1986, and you’re like, ‘Oh, OK, yeah, I’ve seen this story before — it’s bullshit.’”
It certain is, and that’s simply one of their many findings. The bullshit actually piles up with this one. Because it seems, “Benjaman Kyle” is actually William Powell of Lafayette, Indiana, and Invoice Powell is a harmful man.
In August 2004, “Kyle” was discovered bare behind a Burger King in rural Georgia. (He selected the initials “B.K.” as a result of he awoke behind a… B.Ok. Have it your approach, I suppose.) A media circus, together with an look on The Dr. Phil Present, adopted, however nobody might hyperlink Kyle to his earlier existence. The Evangelistas wished to assist — now, they most likely want they by no means met the person.
Shortly after Shannon and Eric discover out Kyle is Powell, they discover out Powell has a violent and shady previous linking him to a robust Midwestern crime household. All types of threats demanding they cease manufacturing adopted. They did no such factor (although they made the selection to bleep out the crime household’s title all through the collection). As an alternative, the Evangelistas, a former legal professional (Shannon) and journalist (Eric) employed retired FBI particular agent Ken Maxwell to go their private safety; Maxwell turns into invaluable within the continued seek for fact.
The filmmakers say they will show Kyle knew he was Powell this entire time. Proof lifted from a pc utilized by Kyle exhibits he Googled his personal (actual) id in an try and reconnect to Social Safety advantages and obtain a reputable ID as this forgetful character he created. These efforts failed. Shannon says additionally they found “like seven different versions” of Kyle’s record of 23 imprecise reminiscences that he (insincerely) supplied to the media up to now.
The amnesia gimmick was to persuade the crime household that something Powell might have had on them has been misplaced to time (and a supposed head harm). The explanation he sought media consideration was was an try and safe the protection that may include being a public determine. Secret organizations don’t like their murders to make the information if they will keep away from it.
“He’s a genius,” Shannon stated. “It’s brilliant what he did.”
Decelerate with all that — the person misspelled “Benjamin.”
Eric and Shannon Evangelista.
Warner Bros. Discovery
Season certainly one of The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle ends considerably abruptly, and with footage that spans fairly a couple of years. The doc’s two digicam crews had cut up a very long time in the past, one following the Evangelistas and their continued seek for solutions, and the opposite with Kyle/Powell. It’s a jarring end — much less so whenever you get the sense {that a} second season is inevitable.
“All we really did in [season] one was we solved motive,” Shannon stated.
Although there was no announcement relating to the way forward for the docuseries, all the pieces factors to a renewal: The Curious Case of Natalia Grace has expanded right into a literal ID franchise. In a (most likely not) hypothetical second season, viewers would see Powell “facing his own demons,” in Shannon’s phrases, together with that “gnarly” remaining interview by which the filmmakers confront Powell with some severe legal accusations, together with the one the statute of limitations by no means runs out on: homicide.
“We were transparent, and he got violent at one point,” Shannon stated.
Maxwell described the contentious December 2016 interview as as “three successive nights of… disclosing to him what we had found out about him, and basically saying, ‘Hey, Benjaman, we know what you’ve been involved in, and here are the facts.”
Powell didn’t like that.
“He’s a control freak. He wants to run the room, [he thinks he’s] the smartest guy in the room,” Maxwell continued. “He reacted in a variety of ways, the last of which was getting very angry and violent, throwing off his mic, and you know, leaving the room.”
I requested Maxwell, who has investigated the worst of the worst and “been threatened by the best of them,” how harmful Powell is at his superior age.
Powell is “still robust physically,” Maxwell stated, however “he smokes an excessive amount of. He doesn’t comply with a wholesome routine in his way of life.
“But, you know, anybody that’s still on the face of the Earth and has the mindset to lash out— it is always possible,” Maxwell continued. “Anytime you’re dealing with people who have a nefarious background… you have to be practical about it and you take reasonable steps.”
After he (most likely) ruined their mic pack, Powell has ghosted the filmmakers — together with Maxwell’s cheery annual vacation cellphone name. He can run (nicely, he most likely can’t run) however he can’t disguise. Powell lives in the very same condominium Natalia Grace lived in whereas the Evangelistas had been investigating her story. They, ah, know the handle nicely. Once more, maybe we’re throwing that phrase “genius” round a bit too loosely, Shannon.
Shannon says she has already “mapped out” a second season and supplied a “full episode breakdown” to ID.
“A lot of the crazy stuff we found out was after Benjamin stopped speaking to us,” she stated.
So now, they’re enlisting your assist.
“You reach a plateau level where you may want to go out and elicit the help of the public,” Maxwell stated. “We’re at that point in the investigation. Let’s get, get out there, let’s let people know what we’re involved in.”
Eric believes when the season airs, they’ll be “flooded” with new suggestions. Manufacturing on this factor might by no means finish.
The Many Lives of Benjaman Kyle aired Monday and Tuesday from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on Investigation Discovery. The 2-night occasion is now obtainable to stream on HBO Max.
