Katharine McPhee & Daniel Gillies To Topline Robert Durst Movie

Lifetime has given the green light to original movie The Lost Wife of Robert Durst, with Katharine McPhee and Daniel Gillies set to star as Kathie and Robert Durst.

Based on Matt Birkbeck’s book, “A Deadly Secret: The Bizarre and Chilling Story of Robert Durst, the movie centers on the wife of Robert Durst, subject of HBO’s documentary The Jinx. Young and wide-eyed, Kathie (McPhee) falls in love with charming yet quirky real estate scion Robert Durst (Gillies), only to find their marriage turning stranger, darker and more disturbing as time passes. When Kathie vanishes in 1982, her family and friends are deeply disturbed that her disappearance isn’t taken seriously by police.

While Durst is currently in jail awaiting trial for the murder of his close friend, journalist Susan Berman, the questions linger as to what really happened to Kathie. The Lost Wife of Robert Durst pulls back the curtain on the world of Robert Durst and explores what may have happened between him and Kathie.

A movie about Robert Durst had been in development at Lifetime since last summer. Bettina Gilois is penning the script.

The Jinx examined Durst’s ties to his wife’s disappearance and Berman’s death, as well as the 2001 death and dismemberment of his neighbor Morris Black, for which he was tried and acquitted. The HBO series ended with Durst blurting out on a hot microphone that he “killed them all, of course.”

The Lost Wife of Robert Durst is produced by Lincoln Square and Lifetime.

McPhee stars as Paige Dineen on CBS drama series Scorpion, which recently was renewed for a fourth season.

Gillies plays Elijah on CW’s The Originals, which was renewed for a fifth season, and can next be seen in CBS’ new fall drama series SEAL Team. Gillies also directed an episode of The Originals, which airs June 2, as well as feature Broken Kingdom and documentary Kingdom Come. Gillies is repped by APA and Link Entertainment.

Gilois is repped by APA and Manage-ment.