‘Woman of the Hour’ star and director Anna Kendrick says watching the real Rodney Alcala appear on a dating game show “really informed” his character in the Netflix thriller.

Alcala, a convicted serial killer, appeared as a bachelor on an episode of “The Dating Game” in 1978, competing with two other men to win a date with bachelor Cheryl Bradshaw.

Alcala was ultimately convicted of seven murders committed in the 1970s in California and New York.

Kendrick says she was struck by the real Alcala’s charm in the game show footage.

“There’s a kind of boyish, sheepish quality to Rodney when he laughs,” she tells TODAY.com, citing archival footage available from Alcala’s turn on the show.

“You can see him as a little kid, just excited,” she continues. “And I thought that was very illuminating about the duality of this terrible person who had these very disarming, childlike qualities that would certainly make you feel like you weren’t in any danger.”

The video from the episode “Dating Game” shows Bradshaw and Alcala’s natural banter over a risqué conversation.

“What’s your best time?” Bradshaw asked Alcala from the other side of a curtain during the show. He replied, “The best time is at night, at night.” He later said, “The night is when it really gets good.”

“I’m serving you for dinner. What is your name and what do you look like?” Bradshaw asked Alcala at a later point.

“I’m called ‘the banana’ and I look really good,” he replied.

Asked for further explanation, he added: “Peel me.”

At the end of the episode, they stood side by side when they learned they had won tennis lessons and a trip to an amusement park.

Alcala’s outward charm is chilling in retrospect, as he had already committed murder when he appeared on “The Dating Game,” unbeknownst to the show’s producers. The host introduced him as a photographer, another disturbing detail as he often lured victims in by promising to take pictures of them.

Some moments from ‘Woman of the Hour’ are closely inspired by the game show’s archive footage, including the host’s innuendo-filled introduction of Bradshaw.

“She used to work on massaging feet, but stopped when her boss asked her to work her way up,” host Jim Lange said on the real show, a line repeated almost verbatim in the film.

Also in both the movie and the real dating show, Alcala’s first words to Bradshaw are, “We’re going to have a great time together, Cheryl,” accompanied by a flirtatious smile.

There are some differences between the actual footage of “The Dating Game” and the episode’s portrayal in “Woman of the Hour.”

For example, in the movie, Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) is Bachelor No. 3, while in the real show he is Bachelor No. 1. Also, in the real episode, Bradshaw is introduced as a drama teacher from Phoenix, Arizona, while her character in the film is an aspiring actor.

Despite these minor differences, the film captures the essence of Alcala’s character from the show’s footage, exploring the dissonance Kendrick mentions between his onstage charisma and his true violent nature.

Bradshaw, in both the movie and the real dating show, chooses Alcala as her winner, intending to meet him after the show.

But in real life, the date never happened. Ellen Metzger, the show’s former contestant coordinator, recalled a conversation she had with Bradshaw after the show ended.

“She said, ‘Ellen, I can’t date this man. Strange vibrations are coming from him. He’s very strange. I’m not at ease. Is that going to be a problem?'” Metzger said on “20/20” in 2021. “And of course I said, ‘No.'”

In the film, Cheryl goes out with Rodney – and barely makes it out alive.

Kendrick praised Zovatto, whom she describes in real life as “so warm and lovely,” for finding a way to identify with Alcala’s character and approaching the role with nuance.

“(Zovatto) was really willing to make himself the hero of his own story, which I think is difficult when you’re playing someone who is an irredeemable monster,” she says.

Kendrick said that the film was ultimately not interested in finding out why Alcala “was the way he was”, or explaining his psychology.

“That’s why I feel extra love for (Zovatto), because he had to give a really chilling, nuanced performance, and he’s not really the center of any scene. That’s a generous thing for an actor to do,” she says. .

Alcala was convicted of seven murders throughout his life, although authorities suspect he may actually have been responsible for the deaths of more than a hundred people.

He died of natural causes at the age of 77 while on death row in California, according to prison officials. Bradshaw has also now passed away.