Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey, the filmmakers behind HBO's docuseries 'The Synanon Fix,' spoke about the group, its followers and the dangers of blindly following a charismatic leader.
In the late 1950s, Charles “Chuck” Dederich started a drug rehabilitation program out of a storefront in Santa Monica. A recovering alcoholic who’d gotten sober through Alcoholics Anonymous, Dederich offered free treatment to self-described “dope fiends” desperate to kick their deadly habit and go cold turkey.
Because this happened just weeks before they were set to lock picture, they had to ask HBO for several more months and more money to recut the documentary. “To their credit, they agreed,” said Kennedy. Interviewing people who spent years in Synanon playing “The Game” was both fascinating and challenging, she said. “On average for documentaries, which I've now been doing for 25 years, the interviews are maybe two to three hours long. None of these were less than seven hours.
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