HBO has released the first trailer for
Ivy Meeropol's documentary Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy
Cohn.
The film, which will debut on HBO later
this month, examines the life of attorney Roy Cohn.
The feature draws on “extensive,
newly unearthed archival material to present the most revealing
examination of [Cohn] to date,” HBO said in a press release.
That material is recently discovered
audiotapes of discussions Cohn had with journalist Peter Manso, with
whom Cohn and novelist Norman Mailer shared a house in Provincetown,
Massachusetts.
Playwright Tony Kushner and actor
Nathan Lane appear in the film. Cohn is prominently featured in
Kushner's play Angels in America, and Lane played Cohn in the
play for nearly a year.
Cohn represented President Donald Trump
in the early 70s and is credited with introducing Trump to Rupert
Murdoch in the mid-1970s. Murdoch's Fox News has largely embraced
Trump and his administration's policies.
In a 2008 The New Yorker op-ed,
Trump associate Roger Stone is quoted by Jeffrey Toobin as saying
that Cohn was “not gay” but rather “a man who liked having sex
with men.” Cohn died in 1986 from complications related to AIDS.
“Roy Cohn made his name prosecuting
and pushing for the execution of my grandparents Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg,” said Meeropol. “Many years later he became Donald
Trump’s lawyer, mentor and close friend. If there was ever a time
to reflect on how we got here it is now. I am so grateful for the
opportunity to share the film with HBO audiences.”
“One thing I didn’t know until 1988
was that Cohn was gay and had succumbed to AIDS. Learning this about
him made me want to know more about this man and the secret life he
led. This clash of feelings, hating a man and believing he was evil
while simultaneously feeling empathy for that same man who no doubt
suffered in the closet, drove my approach in making this film,” he
said.
HBO will debut Bully. Coward.
Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn on
June 19.