The Writer with No Hands


The Writer with No Hands is a 2017 British documentary feature film, which follows writer Matthew Alford as he tries to establish that the accidental death of Hollywood screenwriter Gary DeVore was, in fact, an assassination by the United States government.
The finished film, directed by William Westaway, was screened at venues on 27 June 2017 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of DeVore's fate and a 2018 television edit subsequently sold to Norway's VGTV and New Zealand's Rialto Channel. Means TV released it worldwide in 2020.
An alternative 86 minute cut feature had premiered at Hot Docs as early as 2014 but was pulled from the festival circuit at the end of that year, heavily re-worked, and never distributed.

Background

On Friday 27 June 1997, Gary DeVore had been driving home after completing a new film script. He was last seen at a Denny's diner in the Mojave Desert around 1:00 on the morning of the 28th. The subsequent manhunt remained unsuccessful until July 1998 when an amateur detective located fragments of DeVore's car next to the California Aqueduct near Palmdale.
The California Highway Patrol's investigation concluded that DeVore must have driven against oncoming traffic along the highway, crashed into the water and drowned in his vehicle.

Production

In an eponymous book and audiobook, Alford characterised the filmmaking process as highly erratic. Although he produced the 2014 version of the documentary, he was not similarly accredited on the final film.
In 2016, director William Westaway raised £4,769 through a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund completion of technical aspects to the production. The original film's score was by Ian Kellett and Andy Nunn.

Reception

Critical response

The 2014 cut prompted concerns about taste. Cineinstyle called the documentary "riveting" but added "I wouldn't want to be Westaway's friend - or enemy". It was also dubbed a "sour" and "dubious" product that "borders on unethical".
In 2020, the Morning Star called the final film "unmissable" and "as tense and telling as any Hollywood fiction".

Awards and nominations