First D.C. sniper movie debuts on USA, was it too soon?

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Less than a year after the arrests of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, the first movie about the shootings that terrorized the suburbs and exurbs of the nation's capital is here.

''D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear,'' which premiered Friday on USA, was admittedly rushed through production to be finished while the shooting spree was still fresh in people's minds.

And while it's nearly impossible to replicate the feeling of waking up every morning wondering if there's going to be another shooting, the movie does capture both the pervasive anxiety of the region and the stunning randomness of the attacks.

''The main question would be, 'Is it too early?' And my answer to that is, 'This is America. We move on very fast,''' says Charles S. Dutton, who stars as Moose. ''I didn't want to do anything exploitative or disrespectful to the victims' families, and I don't think this is.''

Not only does Dutton bear a passing resemblance to Moose, he also has ties to the area. A Baltimore native, he lives on a farm in Howard County, Montgomery's neighbor to the north.

''I was physically here during just about all the shootings, and those guys were captured maybe 15 miles from my place,'' Dutton said by phone from his home. ''So although I was maybe 30 miles north of where everything was happening, you could still really feel the anxiety in my area.''

Director Tom McLoughlin and screenwriter Dave Erickson, who also collaborated on USA's ''Murder in Greenwich,'' did as much research as they could in the time they had -- speaking with investigators and Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, among others.

But Moose, who was embroiled in a dispute with the county's ethics commission over whether he could write his book, was not involved with the project. And Dutton, who was performing on Broadway throughout pre-production, came to the set cold.

''I've never met Charles Moose. He wasn't on the set. I finished the play April 4, flew to Vancouver April 5 and we were shooting April 6. I had no rehearsal time,'' Dutton said. ''So one thing I didn't try to do is try to capture his speech patterns or dialect because I really didn't have time to work on that.''

Dutton did, however, study tapes of Moose's news conferences. ''At the podium, he had a certain pensiveness. You could see him thinking before he answered a question. That was really fun to play, that introspection.''

''D.C. Sniper'' cuts quickly between the investigation and the alleged shooters; Muhammad (Bobby Hosea) and Malvo (Trent Cameron), as they pick out their targets, elude dragnets and try to initiate communication with investigators.

Ultimately, there are few surprises in ''D.C. Sniper.'' While Dutton has some powerful moments, he plays Moose largely as the world saw him: at times steely and determined, at times bumbling and frustrated, at times overcome with emotion at the plight of the victims.

''When these cases are so known by the public and things have been painted in the light that they've been painted, I don't think this movie's going to surprise anybody,'' McLoughlin says. ''I think they just get a little insight into how it happened.''
 

''The main question would be, 'Is it too early?' And my answer to that is, 'This is America. We move on very fast.'''
-- Charles S. Dutton, who stars as Moose in "D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear."