Wonderland
2003REAL PERSON Porn star John Holmes
PLAYED BY Val Kilmer
THE DISH Holmes may have been best known for what lay below his belt, but his most shocking legacy had nothing to do with sex. Police believed that Holmes, eager to appease a group of druggie friends to whom he owed money, helped them plot the burglary of another pal, nightclub owner Ed Nash. The rewards were substantial: their alleged take included more than $100,000 in cash and eight pounds of cocaine. When four people, including two of the suspected burglars, were later found bludgeoned to death in a house on Hollywood's Wonderland Avenue, the police fingered Nash and Holmes for the crime.
THE REALITY Nash and Holmes weren't such easy targets for the LAPD after all. Holmes was acquitted of any involvement in the crime and died of complications from AIDS in 1998. Nash was tried twice, with a 1990 trial ending in a hung jury and a 1991 acquittal.
WHAT YOU WON'T SEE According to screenwriter Captain Mauzner, the story focuses on a two-week period at the time of the Wonderland murders -- so don't count on any porn set visits. (Holmes was the inspiration for ''Boogie Nights''' Dirk Diggler.) ''At the time of the murders, Holmes had taken a two-year hiatus,'' he explains. ''His drug problem was so bad, he couldn't get it up.'' Be thankful that some of Holmes' other talents won't end up in the film. ''He loved singing Neil Diamond and Gordon Lightfoot songs, and I'm told his voice sounded like a dying cat.''
WHAT MAKES THE CUT You won't have to take the police department's word for what happened on Wonderland Ave. Mauzner and director James Cox discovered so many different versions of what actually happened, they decided to film the story from multiple perspectives, à la 1950's ''Rashomon.''
