Kim Delaney on Her Role in Lifetime's "The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice"

Making the experience of working on this important project even more significant for Delaney is the fact that it is Lifetime39s 400th original movie quotI feel very honoredquot she said of marking this milestone during an exclusive interview with MediaVillage quotLifetime has put out a lot of good movies about strong women and the drama of what goes on in real life Many are based on true stories That39s why they39re interesting to mequotThe Long Island Serial Killer A Mother39s Hunt for Justice is based on the true story of Mari Gilbert a woman who stopped at nothing to solve the mystery of her daughter Shannan39s disappearance after she did not return from a quotdatequot Certain there was foul play involved and largely dismissed by authorities because Shannan sometimes worked as an escort Gilbert started her own investigation Working with an independent private investigator she helped police uncover the gruesome remains of many murdered women all the work of the individual known as the Long Island Serial KillerquotI wasn39t familiar with Mari39s story but I had heard about the murdersquot Delaney recalled quotSome of the bodies were found in Atlantic City and I thought they might be connected to the ones that had been found on Long Island39s Gilgo beach I have a home right near there so I was curious as to how that came aboutquotShot in Vancouver during the COVID19 pandemic Delaney told me that having to quarantine before production started and physically transforming herself into the character actually proved helpful quotI dyed my hair blond so that wasn39t a wigquot she revealed quotThere was a little bit of a shock there but I went straight into the character Quarantining for a couple weeks was helpful to me because our director and everybody involved kept sending me material that I could read to find out more information A lot of it was readily available via Google but they sent more detailed stuffquotSo I had that time of not going out to really just hold onto thatquot she continued quotThen we got to work It was a great shoot It39s a tough character and a tough story but I think it39s an important one Mari helped give closure to all these other families besides her own Had she not been as relentless as she was they never would have found those bodies They were all found by accident she just stayed on the police I still have cop friends from when I was doing NYPD Blue and one of my friends is from Long Island He said 39Mari wouldn39t stop39 She just busted their chops all the time She wasn39t wrong to do that and thank God she didn39t stopquotAccording to Delaney Mari was not a character she found easy to hangup once the cameras stopped rolling quotFor me as an actor I stayed in characterquot she shared of the experience quotIt was great work so it stayed with me This is a departure for me and a very different character but she is an important one I39d go home and would take a bath then study the script for the next day39s work Those were the only quiet times for surequotYou always want to honor a reallife characterquot she added quotPlaying a real person is a little more difficult as you can39t take as much license as you would playing a fictional character But I loved this story right away I39ve always been fascinated by serial killer books I guess it39s trying to find out what makes them tick There39s no real answer otherwise we39d have it down by now What39s sad is a lot of these women were forgotten about A lot of them had families were sisters were daughters and they were discovered as victims of a serial killerquotMari Gilbert39s own story also came to a tragic end After providing closure to so many families she was murdered by her daughter Sarra quotUnfortunately the whole family had a few issuesquot Delaney explainedDelaney is proud this film stands as a testament to Mari39s legacy quotShe was here fighting and doing it all by herself reallyquot she said in closing quotThe case was reopened in February as the killer is still at large I39m sure more will be uncovered but Mari brought answers to a lot of families who lost loved onesquotThe Long Island Serial Killer A Mother39s Hunt for Justice will be telecast Saturday February 20 at 8 pm on Lifetime as part of the network39s quotRipped from the Headlinesquot lineupClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Kim Delaney on Her Role in Lifetime's "The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice"

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Kim Delaney on Her Role in Lifetime's "The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice"

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