She'd obviously write about how she was feeling, and draw funny little pictures 
Nick Broomfield made his name second-guessing the news media in controversial documentaries such as Kurt & Courtney, Biggie And Tupac, and Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam. In 1992 he told the grisly tale of US serial killer Aileen Wournos in The Selling Of A Serial Killer and years later found himself drawn back into her world. The end result is what Broomfield calls his most personal film to date - Aileen: Life And Death Of A Serial Killer.
You've said you didn't pick this film, but that it picked you...
I was subpoenaed to be a witness. I was in the middle of another film and I wouldn't really have chosen to do it, but I got pulled into it. Then Aileen changed her story. She suddenly said she'd killed in cold blood, and I'd always believed she'd killed in self defence, so I just wanted to find out more about her state of mind.
Do you still believe she killed in self defence?
I think Mallory [Richard Mallory, her first victim] was an abusive guy. He'd spent a long time in institutions for rape and I think he did abuse her, and I think she killed him in self defence. Then, once you've killed, why not kill again?
There's a scene where you record Aileen's voice without her consent. What about the ethics of that?
I think you just have to assess whether you feel you've really abused someone's rights, which I didn't in that situation. Aileen's basically saying, "I did kill in self defence but I'm so unhappy on death row I have to die." I think that goes to the heart of the film. Death row is so punitive, it's so vengeful, she hadn't received any psychiatric treatment, she's received no help, it was just like torture. I felt that was information an audience needed to have in the whole debate about the death penalty.
Do you think she was genuinely remorseful about her crimes?
I don't think so. No. In her last interview she said she'd removed people who would have hurt other people. She said she thought she'd done a lot of good, and the police had put her there - enabled her to go on killing to clean the streets for them.
You exchanged letters with Aileen for years while she was on death row didn't you?
Yeah, from '91 or '92 when I did the first film [The Selling Of A Serial Killer], she'd write occasionally. It built up a relationship of trust. She was very obsessed with the police, so a lot of it was about that, and then she'd obviously write about how she was feeling, and draw funny little pictures.
Did you ever think that, in developing a personal relationship with Aileen, your judgement could be affected?
Well, not really. I wasn't having a sexual relationship with Aileen. I think the film was very much about what Aileen wanted to say. I felt she really wanted me to be a mouthpiece for her, and I found that a pretty onerous responsibility - because you don't really want to let her down, particularly somebody who's going to be executed. It was hard to control, or be objective about it. It was a hard film to cut for that reason. But I think to make a good film you've got to be very close - particularly if it's a portrait of a person.
From Selling Of A Serial Killer to Life And Death, you talk a lot about the way in which various people exploited Aileen to clinch movie deals. What separates you from the pack?
I suppose, because I'm not going to make a fortune out of this film. I certainly haven't on the other one. I'm releasing this film theatrically here, I would imagine at somewhat of a loss. It's probably different in the States, and I'm doing that really because I think it's an issue that's worth people debating, particularly in an election year. The police story was much more to do with what great detectives they were in finding Aileen - that's the film called Overkill. I hope my film is much more a story about her and the way she thought, and who she was.
Why do you choose to be front and centre in, not just this, but pretty much all your documentaries?
Until '88 I did a lot of films that I wasn't in at all, which were more traditional cinema verit茅 films. Then I started asking different questions and doing different kinds of films - much more investigations. Obviously you get the structure and the style to fit the film that you're telling. I was doing a lot of subjects where often people defined themselves more about what they didn't want to talk about than what they did. And that's when you have to roll back the parameters.
