Jason Patric has had the opportunity to play a long list of characters over the past three decades. Most of those acting jobs have been fictional roles, but he has had the occasion to take on a part based on a real person, such as in the 2004 feature film “The Alamo,” where he starred as Jim Bowie.
His latest work in the Lifetime movie “The Girl in the Bathtub” returns him to the world of reality-based characters. The New York native takes on the role of high-profile Philadelphia defense attorney Charles Peruto Jr., who gets caught up in a police investigation when Julia Law (Caitlin Stasey), his 26-year-old girlfriend and paralegal, is found dead in his bathtub.
The biggest difference in how Patric approaches a role based on a real person and fictional characters is his preparation.
Patric looked at plenty of news coverage of the 2013 case before filming started because of the sensational nature of the story. Peruto was part of the investigation, but it was soon discovered that Law had three lovers. That raised questions about whether any of them may have had a motive to kill her.