Trump mentor.
More than three decades after his death, Roy Cohn still haunts American life.
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This year, two ambitious Roy Cohn documentaries seek to explain this troubling figure.
A week after the release of Tyrnauers Cohn doc, Ivy MeeropolsBully.
(In 2004, she made a documentary about her family,Heir to an Execution.
Neither of us knew that he was gay or that he had died of AIDS.
I only knew him as a name, as an evil specter from the [Rosenbergs] trial.
He was a fascinating figure, and for many years thered been no real documentary treatment of him.
But I actually thought,Somebody else can do that.
I dont have to be the Rosenbergs granddaughter all the time in my work.
Do you know who made that panel?We dont.
We tried to find them.
Im hoping maybe when the film comes out that this person will come forward.
That is the feeling of the film.Im glad you felt that way.
That is what I was grappling with.
Because its not so simple.
Hes not just evil.
Well, he is evil, but thats not whats interesting to me.
I knew by then that Cohn had been his mentor, his lawyer, his good friend.
I dont believe he created Trump.
I think thats overstated.
He touches on so many aspects of our history.
He started with the Rosenberg case, so thats my entry point.
I find that poignant, that he could go there and be that way.
That was a part of his life I wanted to bring out.
I love Provincetown; I know a lot of people there.
That book opens with Cohn in Provincetown.I thought,Oh wow.
But I told them, Im not interested in that.
I want to hearyourstories of Cohn.
Theres an incredible treasure trove of his personal materials in the film.Its his personal photo collection.
They show how happy he was there.
Theres this black-and-white one that I love.
Theres three men next to him, all looking in the same direction.
Its like hes in his element.
I think it turned him into a malevolent force.
[Journalist] Peter Manso had a box of materials that I started going through.
I actually have footage of Peter going through the magazine going, Oh my God!
Laughing his head off.
They inserted it into the Sunday papers all over the city.
We didnt even put in half of what these guys were doing to harass him.
John Waters steals the show, as usual.Hes just such a pleasure to interview.
I was kind of playing with him, too.
And thats when he goes, I wouldnt have my nostril on the same straw as that pig.
And then Alan Dershowitz.
So of course I wanted to know Dershowitzs take on that.
And it turned out to be an incredible interview.
And he wanted New York Jews in particular to understand why he did this.
We knew they were guilty; thats why we had to execute them.
He was concerned about his reputation in the Jewish community.
It was important to distinguish yourself from the so-called bad Jews.
The good Jews versus the bad Jews.
We really thought we were in the clear.
And now weve been with Trump long enough to know thats not true.
Thats another quality Cohn shares with the people who now surround Trump.
Hes aware of whats happening to other people and says, Its not going to happen to me.
Im going to double-check the system works for me.
He tried to game the system.
I find that story pretty amazing because he was the only Jewish banker who ended up there.
Of all the savings-and-loan disasters, he was the only one who got sent away.
It was a Jewish community bank.
The world would be a terrible place if that happened.
Wheres My Roy Cohn?opens September 20;Bully.
The Story of Roy Cohnis on HBO.
