‘Dirty John: Betty Broderick Story’: The Cast vs. Their Real-Life Counterparts (PHOTOS)
Get ready to see Amanda Peet and Christian Slater in a new light: The duo star as spouses whose divorce turns deadly in the second season of the anthology series Dirty John.
The anthology series, now airing on USA instead of Bravo, is winding the clock back a half century to tell the story of Dan and Betty Broderick from its start in the 1960s to its tragic end in the 1980s.
Season 1 stars Connie Britton and Julia Garner both earned Critics’ Choice Television Award nominations for their performances—with Britton even earning a Golden Globe nod—and the stars of Season 2 could very well earn accolades, as well.
But how much do they physically resemble their real-life counterparts? Scroll down to see Peet, Slater, and costar Rachel Keller along with images of the people they play—via footage from USA’s mini-documentary Dirty John: The Broderick Files—and to see some of the show’s other actors in character.
Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, Tuesday, June 2, 9/8c, USA
Amanda Peet as Betty Broderick
“They appeared to be such an average, suburban American family,” Peet said of Dan and Betty Broderick in an interview with Variety. “And yet the story ended up being so violent and tragic. I think [creator] Alexandra [Cunningham] feels that there’s value in exploring how and why—how could that have happened?”
Betty Broderick
Broderick was convicted on two counts of second-degree murder in the 1989 deaths of her ex-husband, Dan Broderick, and his second wife, Linda Broderick (née Kolkena), and is still imprisoned to this day.
Christian Slater as Dan Broderick
“These people really went at each other’s throats,” Slater told Atlanta’s Fox 5 in an interview about the show. “Betty was absolutely unwilling to give up the image and the idea of what it was that life should look like. Dan wanted to move on, and she wanted to hold on.”
Dan Broderick
Dan was a prominent San Diego lawyer, Betty’s husband for 16 years, and the father of her five children. At the time of his murder, he was 44.
Rachel Keller as Linda Kolkena
Keller is best known for playing mutant Sydney Barrett in the X-Men series Legion, and she also appeared on FX as Simone Gerhardt in the second season of Fargo.
Linda Kolkena
Kolkena was Dan’s legal assistant. At the time of her murder, she was 28 years old and was his wife of seven months.
Buckley, best known for his role as David Wallace on The Office, appears to be playing Betty’s defense attorney. In real life, Betty was represented by attorney Jack Earley.
Emily Bergl as Marie Stewart
The Shameless alum seems to be playing a fictional character, billed by Deadline as one of Betty’s only divorced friends: “Kind, smart, and having been through it herself, she implores Betty to take her divorce seriously.”
Jules Wilcox as Kelsey and Kelly Sullivan as Britt
The Bloodline actress and the Young and the Restless alum seem to be playing suburbanite roles created for the dramatization.
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