The new T.V. show, "Bonnie & Clyde," aired the first eposide of a two-part mini-series from writer's Joe Batter and John Rice in their version of the story that made the criminal couple glamorous and romantic.
The show premiered and is being broadcasted on the History Channel, A&E and Lifetime, but critics have quickly deemed the series inaccurate of the crime and overall environment was like in that era. They also said the depiction of the characters were fictitious, too.
The cast includes Emile Hirsch as Clyde and Holliday Granger as Bonnie, Holly Hunter, William Hurt plays Frank Hamer the tough Texas Ranger hunting down the couple, along with Ted Hinton played by Austin Hebert, a lawman who used to date Bonnie, according to the History Channel.
Emma Parker, Bonnie's mother who seems to support her daughter's every decision, except to be with Clyde, is played by Holly Hunter, and the journalist who writes the glamorous articles about the couple is P.J. Lane played by Elizabeth Reaser.
Clyde's brother, Buck Barrow, is played by Lane Garrison and is married to Blanche Barrow who secretly hates Bonnie as is played by Sarah Hyland. Cummie Barrow, the over-loving mother of the Barrow brothers is played by Dale Dickey.
The first episode aired Sunday night at 9 p.m., and The Guardian said this version of Clyde leans towards a Donnie Darko style of character and portrays Bonnie as the one egging Clyde on instead of capturing the true story of the couple, stating everything in this show "has been done better somewhere else."
The writers, Batter and Rice, told TheWrap during an interview that factual truth isn't what they were going for. Instead, the two writers brought out all the "what-ifs" that may have been true based on some actual facts from the real story of Bonnie and Clyde.
An example the writers told TheWrap of how they warped some true story-line facts is one of the critics main complaints: changing Bonnie's character, and her overall role in the story itself.
When asked why they chose to portray Bonnie in a different light, Rice said they had found information that Bonnie liked attention and did things like singing a honky-tonk song at her father's funeral, to sending her headshots to Hollywood.
"At the time, Pretty Boy Floyd was in the newsreels and the True Crime magazines. So, what if rising up as an outlaw couple kind of occurred to Bonnie in stages as she kind of drives the wheel of where they're going to go, because she's kind of the first reality star?" Rice told TheWrap.
"Even the best documentary isn't actually true with a capital T," co-writer Batteer told TheWrap. "There's opinions and points of view. Ultimately, we're dramatists and we're trying to tell a story. We don't just want to write down the facts. Hell, anyone can do that. We're interested in telling a tale, taking people on a ride and we think we did."
Although Rice and Batter's version of the criminal couple strays far from actuality, except in that they are still stealing and robbing, the basic car-chases and beautiful costumes are still present. Part two airs Monday at 9 p.m.
