In the pantheon of American serial killers, few names carry as much weight (and dread) as the Golden State Killer. For decades, Joseph James DeAngelo, a former cop also known as the Original Night Stalker, the East Area Rapist, and the Visalia Ransacker, treated the state of California as a personal playground. Now, James Franco and Vincent Gallo are making a movie about the killer at the center of one of the best true crime docs ever released.
Titled Golden State Killer (formerly, The Policeman), the upcoming crime flick will see the two controversial actors take on one of the most notorious criminals of all time. However, there’s one behind-the-scenes mystery I need solved, and it has to do with the film’s director. Let me explain.
James Franco And Vincent Gallo Leading A Movie About The Golden State Killer Wasn’t On My Bingo Card
When I first read a Deadline article in May 2025 reporting that Lionsgate was releasing a movie about the Golden State Killer with Vincent Gallo playing the lead role and James Franco as a detective on the case, I didn’t know what to think. I certainly didn’t have these two at the heart of a serial killer movie on my bingo card. Yet, here we are.
Details are slim, but the movie was in post-production at the time of the Deadline piece. While it’s unlikely this will drop on the 2025 movie schedule (there are only two months to go before the end of the year), we could see this hitting the big screen with other 2026 movies.
Now about that mystery I need solved…
But This Business About The Film’s Mystery Director Is Quite Baffling
While Golden State Killer was initially going to be the directorial debut of Jordan Gertner, the producer behind movies like The Virgin Suicides and Spring Breakers, Deadline reported in May 2025 that those duties had shifted over to Vito Brown at some point. Have you heard of Brown before? No? Well, you’re not alone.
Shortly after this news broke, The Film Stage published a story about Golden State Killer and its mystery director, pointing out that he may, in fact, be Vincent Gallo working under a pseudonym. Digging through Gallo’s IMDb page, the outlet mentioned that he played a character called Vito Brown in Claire Denis’ Keep It for Yourself, the similarly named Vincenzo Brown in Nenette and Boni, and various other takes on the “Brown” name in films like his project, Buffalo ‘66. Not only that, he made the highly-controversial 2003 film titled… The Brown Bunny.
Or, could this be a situation where Gertner remained on the project (shooting has wrapped), but doesn’t want his name on it any longer? Back in January 2024, Deadline reported that SAG-AFTRA was looking into claims made by actresses alleging that Gallo made lewd and inappropriate comments during the audition process, but I’m not sure if that has had any impact on this “Vito Brown” situation.
It’s not all that rare for directors to use pseudonyms over the years, as everyone from Sam Raimi to David O. Russell to John Hughes all utilized fake names in the past. That said, this business with Golden State Killer is still something I need solved.