If you are a fan of a story full of twists and turns, and that seems too shocking to be true, HBO is bringing a tall order of one of these in early April. The Invisible Pilot is a three-part documentary series that chronicles the sudden disappearance of Gary Betzner, a small-town family man, in 1977. The more the police and the Arkansas community look into his life, the more mysterious the story gets.
Crop-dusting, drug smuggling, secret identities, dangerous missions, and even the CIA are part of Betzner’s insane story that seems right out of a movie. Throughout its three episodes, The Invisible Pilot will reveal secret after shocking secret and leave viewers on the brink of disbelief about the information that’s given, as we saw in other docuseries such as Tiger King and Making a Murderer.
Also like previous stranger-than-fiction docuseries, The Invisible Pilot promises to reveal a wealth of archival material so we can get a full grasp of the story’s context and how it played out fifty years ago. The production team also called in a roster of people who were close (at least physically) to Betzner, including his wife, ex-wife, children, friends, associates, public defenders, law officers, and journalists.
The Invisible Pilot is directed by Emmy winners Phil Lott and Ari Mark, who have previously joined forces to tell surprising stories in shows like Cold Case Files and Murder in the Heartland. The duo also has a distinct sense of humor – they’ve won the Emmy for putting together Could You Survive the Movies?, a YouTube series in which they imagine how exactly some scientific experiments in Hollywood blockbusters might play out in real life.
Another individual attached to the project who has a distinct sense of humor is Adam McKay. The Don’t Look Up and The Big Short director produces The Invisible Man, so there’s a good chance that the incredible story is told with a good dose of irony and satire.
HBO premieres The Invisible Pilot on April 4. You will also be able to stream it on HBO Max. Take a look at the docuseries’ poster below:
Check out the official synopsis here:
The HBO Original THE INVISIBLE PILOT, a three-part documentary series by Emmy®-winning filmmakers Phil Lott and Ari Mark, is a tale of a charismatic, daredevil husband and father who unexpectedly jumped off a bridge in 1977, despite a seemingly happy home life and a lucrative career as a pilot. His small-town Arkansas community searches for his body in vain while family and friends seek answers. Years later, a mysterious story emerges involving hypnosis, secret identities and a double life of dangerous missions and law-breaking. And that’s just the beginning…
via Collider