Love is a Crime

In the years after World War II, the political climate abruptly shifts, and Walter Wanger’s (Jon Hamm) history of using movies to promote progressive causes makes him a target for persecution. Wanger’s personal and professional lives are thrown into chaos thanks to a conspiracy involving the FBI, the Bank of America and some of the same anti-communist organizations enforcing the Hollywood Blacklist. With Walter in crisis, Joan’s (Zooey Deschanel) career is revived thanks to her agent and lover Jennings Lang. Afraid of losing his wife, Walter contemplates desperate action. Also featuring Bobby Finger from the podcast Who Weekly as Eric Johnston, Nate DiMeo from The Memory Palace as Samuel Goldwyn, and John August from Scriptnotes as Dore Schary.

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The third member of the Bennett/Wanger love triangle is Jennings Lang (Griffin Dunne), an agent at MCA, then the largest talent agency in the world. In 1951, Lang represents a threat to Walter Wanger’s marriage, but also to his livelihood. Jennings’ son and former colleagues discuss the affair, how the relationship inspired the Oscar-winning Billy Wilder classic The Apartment, and how Lang survived both Walter’s bullet and jokes about having his “balls shot off” to dominate the next incarnation of the studio system for the television age. Also featuring Noah Segan as Jay Kanter.

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Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) bets everything on a different Joan -- Joan of Arc, starring Ingrid Bergman -- and comes up short, as the actress playing the saint sparks an international sex scandal. With Walter’s fame and fortune seemingly running out, he becomes consumed with trying to make three adultery-themed films, which ironically draws his attentions away from his own family and marriage – causing a neglected Joan (Zooey Deschanel) to turn to her young agent for companionship.

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Collaborating with mad genius Fritz Lang, Joan (Zooey Deschanel) and Walter (Jon Hamm) hit the peak of both their careers and their marriage. After the success of the ultimate S&M noir Scarlet Street, Joan continues to play femme fatales on-screen, while cultivating an image as the perfect housewife and mom off-screen. But, with one misbegotten psychosexual noir, the partnership with Fritz Lang falls apart. Suddenly, everything Joan and Walter have built will be in peril.

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Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) transforms Joan Bennett’s (Zooey Deschanel) acting career by giving her a makeover. Now a raven-haired woman of mystery, Joan does her part during WWII by appearing in more anti-Nazi films than any other major American actress, while also authoring a book aimed at women that combines diet tips with calls for political engagement. Her new look is perfect for a new identity as a film noir femme fatale.

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Already a divorced mom while still in her teens, Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel) becomes a movie actress out of financial necessity, but she struggles to define herself as a star. Her life takes a turn when she falls in love with Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm)--an independent producer and champion of progressive politics who wants to change Hollywood from within. Also featuring, Griffin Dunne as Jennings Lang, Mara Wilson as Constance Bennett, and Adam Mortimer, as Richard Bennett.

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When Hollywood mogul Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) shot an agent he suspected was having an affair with his actress wife, Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel) — one of the key femme fatales of 1940s film noir — Bennett was the one who paid a public price for her husband’s crimes. Joan and Walter’s granddaughter/filmmaker Vanessa Hope, and film historian/podcaster Karina Longworth (You Must Remember This), tell the untold story of the Bennett/Wanger romance and professional partnership — a film noir played out in real life.

The first episode launches Tuesday, August 17. Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac

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