David M. Benett/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Ben Stiller’s new Showtime series, Escape At Dannemora, has received a ton of praise, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Limited Series. But the series, based on the true events of a prison break, has one vocal detractor.
One of the shows real life subjects, Joyce “Tillie” Mitchell, calls Stiller “a son-of-a-b***h liar” in a jailhouse interview with the New York Post. Mitchell is serving seven years in prison for her role in the escape by two inmates from the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York in 2015.
Patricia Arquette plays Mitchell in the series, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV movie or Limited Series.
According to Mitchell, Stiller “doesn’t care about the truth” and is all about making money off her. Adding for good measure, “He’s an idiot.”
In a Q&A with Deadline, the Zoolander star addresses Mitchell’s criticism, pointing out “that’s the story she has always told.”
“We got as much information as we could from the police reports, the interviews, and then we put together our story. We think it is a real representation of what went on,” Stiller tells Deadline.
As for Mitchell’s claim she never had sex with the two inmates, David Sweat and Richard Matt, Stiller says there are all sorts of things to indicate otherwise.
“She can dispute it but the reality is, she was kicked out of the tailor shop for inappropriate conduct, for going in the back room with David Sweat.”
“I’m sorry she feels that way,” says Stiller. “It can’t be fun to be in prison and I don’t have any ill will towards her in particular.”
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.