Usual Suspects on TF1 Séries Films: do you know John List, the killer who inspired Keyser Söze?

Forty years before Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès, John List killed his family before disappearing into the wild.

This Sunday evening, TF1 Séries Films is rebroadcast Usual Suspectsa thriller by Bryan Singer carried by Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Benicio del Toro and Stephen Baldwin. A twist film that needs no introduction, as it has had such an impact on (television) viewers since its release in 1995.

The film that… by Benicio del Toro

Did you know that its screenwriter, Christopher McQuarrie, was inspired by a real killer to imagine the film’s iconic villain, Keyser Söze? A certain John List, who was active in the early 1970s. Be careful, before reading the rest, it is better to have seen Usual Suspects : if we will not directly spoil scenes from the film here, knowing the details of List’s story may influence the discovery of the feature film…

Without detailing Keyser Söze’s crimes, we can say that they are violent enough to have made him a myth, a symbol of cruelty, both among the police and criminals. To imagine this villain who has become a legend in the history of cinema, McQuarrie was inspired by the story of a real killer, John List, who killed his mother, his wife and his children in 1971, before disappearing into thin air. He committed his murders in cold blood, shooting the two women before waiting for his children to return from school and sports to shoot them in turn. Forty years before the famous Xavier Dupont de Ligonnès affair, in France, this highly publicized story left its mark on Americans, and it was thanks to a television show, America’s Most Wantedthat List was finally found, 18 years after the murders. In 1989, he was recognized in Virginia following the broadcast of the report devoted to him. While on the run, he rebuilt his life under another identity, and even remarried. He died in 2008, in prison, at the age of 82.

Christophe Hondelatte notably devoted a report to him for Europe 1, to listen to here.

Trailer ofUsual Suspects :

Christopher McQuarrie: “The moment I give up on cinema, Tom Cruise comes to get me”