‘What Jennifer Did’: A sit-down interview with the makers behind the Netflix documentary — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00some people broke into house show us all
2. 0:02money it's the craziest story I've ever
3. 0:06covered I've ever heard of the fact that
4. 0:09it's true you know I I I I would say
5. 0:12it's it's Wilder Than Fiction you know
6. 0:15it's it's a it's a Hollywood script wow
7. 0:17but but you know we always have to
8. 0:18remember that it's a tragedy and it's a
9. 0:20it really is it really is and and we
10. 0:22hear directly from Jennifer in the
11. 0:25documentary through the police
12. 0:27interviews my mom scream
13. 0:30I nailed out for her you know one part I
14. 0:33found and and she grew up in scar maram
15. 0:34area and we're going to get into the
16. 0:37fact that I mean this this young lady
17. 0:39lied to her parents and and tricked her
18. 0:40parents into believing a lot of things
19. 0:43about her but I thought it was
20. 0:44interesting that when she was telling
21. 0:45the the cops and it is really that
22. 0:47stereotypical thing that when people are
23. 0:49lying and trying to make up a story
24. 0:50about something that happened to them
25. 0:51she goes oh a guy with Dr loocks did it
26. 0:54a black guy he had a Jamaican accent she
27. 0:56was such a sophisticated liar but that
28. 0:57is such an old cliche you you think that
29. 1:00would come up with something better how
30. 1:02do you think she was able to fool her
31. 1:03parents for years saying that she was an
32. 1:04a student she's graduated she's grown to
33. 1:08University this Web of Lies that just
34. 1:10built up around this young lady before
35. 1:13and leading up to this awful Grizzly
36. 1:15murder yeah I mean there's been lots of
37. 1:18cliche words to use to describe her you
38. 1:21know she's a narcissist she's a
39. 1:23fantasist but but one thing's for sure
40. 1:25is she's very confident and she's very
41. 1:27good liar I said whatever I could to
42. 1:30help she's so confident that she thought
43. 1:32she could pull the wool over everyone's
44. 1:34eyes um the police uh the judge the jury
45. 1:39U you know all the lawyers and and in
46. 1:41many ways it worked because if you watch
47. 1:43your first interrogation
48. 1:45video you guys laid that out in the do
49. 1:48right yeah yeah you see that as part of
50. 1:49The Narrative of the documentary but
51. 1:52Paul we hear from our friends about our
52. 1:53home life and they shed the light on the
53. 1:56motivation behind her arranging to have
54. 1:59her parents murdered what did we learn
55. 2:01about the Dynamics of the pan family
56. 2:05well the pan family they're both people
57. 2:07and uh so I can relate to that my
58. 2:08parents are both people refugees who
59. 2:10came from Vietnam to Canada and uh I
60. 2:12think there's a lot of emphasis placed
61. 2:14on how much pressure especially if your
62. 2:16second generation born here that you get
63. 2:18from your parents and you know it's kind
64. 2:19of that immigrant story you got to
65. 2:21succeed The Immigrant mindset but
66. 2:23because they risk their lives you know
67. 2:25escaping by sea to come here and uh they
68. 2:27just want their children to do well and
69. 2:29to provide them with every opportunity
70. 2:30to succeed and I think uh especially
71. 2:33with the mental health wasn't much
72. 2:34talked about back then it's not as
73. 2:36understood with the pressures of that
74. 2:38and what could come from that exactly
75. 2:40and I think uh and mental health is
76. 2:42actually very taboo subject in the Asian
77. 2:43communities especially among viesi yeah
78. 2:46so it's not really widely talked about
79. 2:48and I think that uh you know under that
80. 2:51immense pressure it led her to do how do
81. 2:53you think viewers then um will feel
82. 2:55about Jennifer after watching your doc
83. 2:58it's it's interesting that we're
84. 2:59covering bring it now a lot of people
85. 3:00say why now the question is I think best
86. 3:03answered by saying that when you know I
87. 3:07I covered it I was there the whole 10
88. 3:08months and she was really made out to be
89. 3:10the daughter from hell in fact that was
90. 3:12a front page at the tonos Sun the
91. 3:15daughter from hell now with a bit of
92. 3:17time we can look back and and see it's
93. 3:19maybe a bit more of a nuanced story and
94. 3:21that it's more complex yeah it is a
95. 3:24complex it's very complex and and so I I
96. 3:26think that's that's a really important
97. 3:29thing to remember and I think hopefully
98. 3:31the conversation will revolve around
99. 3:33that now you can definitely think she's
100. 3:35evil or you can think that she's hard
101. 3:37done by um and so as a reporter I I
102. 3:40think do you leave that up to the viewer
103. 3:41who I do my best yeah yeah to leave that
104. 3:44up to the viewer to decide after you lay
105. 3:46it all out for them um the the
106. 3:48interrogation techniques play a big part
107. 3:50of this story and that's where we hear
108. 3:52the most we hear her in her own voice
109. 3:53saying what happened that night one
110. 3:55thing I I found interesting I don't want
111. 3:56to give too much away because it's it's
112. 3:58in the dock but they kind of lie to her
113. 4:00to trick her into telling the truth what
114. 4:02did you think about that as a former
115. 4:03crime report about that part of the
116. 4:05interrogation it's really interesting
117. 4:08because that's the read technique it's
118. 4:09it's it's actually got its own name it's
119. 4:11got its own counsel um police are
120. 4:14allowed to lie to you because if you are
121. 4:16lying it's the most cold-blooded thing
122. 4:18that I have ever faced in my life and
123. 4:21they they can use a number of pressure
124. 4:22Tech techniques and tactics to get to
125. 4:25the confession and this is what they do
126. 4:27to Jennifer it's really interesting you
127. 4:30guys deal with that the documentary and
128. 4:32Paul being a member of the community you
129. 4:34know I like the way that you guys built
130. 4:36up to the crescendo with her father this
131. 4:38this father who really wanted her
132. 4:40daughter to be a success but he survived
133. 4:42that shooting did you attempt to speak
134. 4:44with him and were you the one who or her
135. 4:46brother or were you the one who was able
136. 4:47to try to get into the community to try
137. 4:50to get people to talk because you know
138. 4:51they might might not have wanted to talk
139. 4:53about this how did you absolutely well
140. 4:55the director Jenny papell she reached
141. 4:56out to me two years ago and uh you know
142. 4:59to help them get access to the
143. 5:00Vietnamese community and I've been
144. 5:01volunteering in that Community for many
145. 5:03years now and uh built up uh sort of
146. 5:05trust and very familiar with a lot of
147. 5:07people and full disclosure when I would
148. 5:09be looking for things in the Vietnamese
149. 5:10Community this would be one of the
150. 5:11people I would call to for many many
151. 5:13decades now but yeah so surprisingly I
152. 5:15mean I didn't know Jennifer but uh the
153. 5:18people I contacted like actually like
154. 5:21knew her directly and I I actually knew
155. 5:22them so one person uh that degree of
156. 5:26separation you knew somebody literally
157. 5:27just one person away and I was like very
158. 5:29surprised about that but I think yes I
159. 5:31did uh you know reach out to the father
160. 5:33we asked for his interview but he
161. 5:36declined and we respect that uh but that
162. 5:38was a very difficult thing to do but I I
163. 5:40knew it needed to be done how do you
164. 5:41think they're going to feel after
165. 5:42watching this though what do you think I
166. 5:44I feel like there may be a difference
167. 5:45between some of the older people in the
168. 5:47community and some of the younger people
169. 5:48in the community how what they take away
170. 5:50from this story in the documentaries the
171. 5:52detectives there are speaking from their
172. 5:53perspective so they'll have an accurate
173. 5:55account of what went down and I think
174. 5:58it's important that uh
175. 6:00the viewer understands like there's two
176. 6:02sides to the story and that it's not
177. 6:04like a simple thing where you can just
178. 6:05get it get it from a headline so I hope
179. 6:07that they look into it and you know get
180. 6:10into the nuance and the complexities and
181. 6:12then come to their own conclusion Jeremy
182. 6:13how do you think this is going to appeal
183. 6:14to a global audience because you're
184. 6:16showing this to the World on Netflix now
185. 6:18and and does it speak to you know
186. 6:20immigrant life in this country well it's
187. 6:23interesting so there's a book uh by Amy
188. 6:27cha chah that's called parenting yes
189. 6:30I've heard of that I've seen her
190. 6:32interviewed on 60 Minutes like it blew
191. 6:34up when when it came and there was a lot
192. 6:36of it was very divisive um her second
193. 6:39book is called what you mentioned off
194. 6:41the top is the Immigrant story so she
195. 6:44changed from whether this is an Asian or
196. 6:46Chinese story um this parenting or if
197. 6:49it's just immigrants because you know
198. 6:52Italians Jews dude West Indians
199. 6:54Nigerians I think we all have come to
200. 6:56Canada and you I sacrific to get you
201. 6:58here you have to prove you want to be a
202. 7:01doctor a lawyer or an engineer it's the
203. 7:03same in this story her father just she
204. 7:05was scared of blood so he said a phist
205. 7:08yes and so and I think her brother
206. 7:10studied engineering too he's an engineer
207. 7:12yeah and so and and you'll you'll see
208. 7:14this story quite widely told so I I
209. 7:17would I would guess that that a lot of
210. 7:19people are going to relate to the story
211. 7:21My Hope Is uh you know I can just relate
212. 7:23being a Vietnamese person Second
213. 7:24Generation and having pressures from my
214. 7:27own parents and sometimes it hurt me
215. 7:29upset me a lot yeah but I wouldn't
216. 7:31resort to something like this and uh I
217. 7:34just hope that the dialogue can happen
218. 7:36and have more healing and people can
219. 7:37come to understanding and avoid these
220. 7:39kind of situations gentlemen good luck
221. 7:41with this Canadian True Crime Story you
222. 7:43really tell a compelling tale yeah thank
223. 7:45you thanks D thank you good see you
224. 7:47again man thank
225. 7:51you