Toni Collette has some steamy new nude scenes in the HBO mini-series The Staircase. You might not realize that these nude scenes are based on a true story. Okay, the plot of the show is a true story - maybe not the sex scenes. But maybe??? Either way, here is the true story behind Toni Colette's new nude scene.
The Staircase series is based on one of the most pivotal true crime docuseries in the genre. If anything, it's one of the originals. It was released in 2004 and it has been watched and debated ever since. Here is the story: crime novelist Michael Peterson is accused of killing his wife Kathleen, played in this series by Toni after she is found dead at the bottom of the Petersons' staircase. Toni actually does sort of look like Kathleen, even in previous nude scenes from other projects.
To help Peterson's case, he hired a documentary crew while he was preparing for trial. Is that the activity of an innocent man? Well, that's the question throughout ALL of the docuseries' actions. Nearly everything seems suspicious and shady as family secrets unravel in real time throughout the docuseries. From a former case that is nearly identical to this one that pops up from Michael's past to the fact that Michael was the only other person home at the time of Kathleen's death, things don't look great for the guy. Yet he maintains his innocence to this day!
A lot of insane details emerge and wild excuses are made by the prosecution who, at one point, claims that an owl must have flown in while Kathleen was walking down the stairs and her battle with the owl caused her to fall. "The Owl Theory" might sound familiar to fans of true crime. This is where it came from!
In real life, Michael was found guilty. However, he later took an Alford Plea which is when you acknowledge that there is enough evidence to find you guilty, but you maintain your innocence. Typically, people take an Alford Plea when it is available to them in order to avoid a worse sentence if they actually lost their case and it allows defendants to accept deals. Peterson had already served time in prison, so he was actually set free when he submitted the Alford Plea due to time served. He's currently free and, according to multiple sources, living in a house without a staircase.
