Given his background in journalism, it’s little wonder that director Edward Zwick turned to an investigative reporter’s work as the basis for his latest film, “Trial by Fire.” The film is based on an article of the same name by David Grann published in the New Yorker in 2009 about a Texas man who was almost certainly wrongfully executed for the murder of his three children; DNA evidence exonerated him too late. Zwick and Grann had
“Trial by Fire” is the true story of the unlikely bond that developped between a death row inmate (Jack O'Connell) and a mother of two from Houston (Laura Dern) who, although she faced great odds, fought hard for his freedom. Cameron Todd Willingham, a poor, uneducated heavy metal devotee with a violent streak and a criminal record, was convicted of arson-related triple homicide in 1992. During his twelve years