Talking With Writer/Director William Nunez About His New Documentary ‘The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout’

Today it’s not exactly hard to imagine where a film starring John Wayne as Ghenghis Khan went wrong. The reason The Conqueror is talked about today, though, has nothing to do with the miscasting of the actors and everything to do with how many members of the cast and crew (including Wayne, Susan Hayward, Dick Powell, and Agnes Moorehead) died from cancer and how that might be because they were exposed to radiation while shooting the film. William Nunez‘s documentary, The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout, dives deeper into this story and you can find out more about it in the interview with Nunez below:

Rachel Bellwoar: Your first feature film was the Robert Graves biopic, The Laureate. What made you decide to do a documentary next?

William Nunez: Hi Rachel, thank you for having me. I was editing The Laureate when the pandemic hit and we had locked down, and had no idea when production would restart. In the meantime, my producing partner Douglas Waller and myself were discussing what to do next. I always heard of the Hollywood myth about the movie The Conqueror and possible cases of cancer in regards to the cast and crew so I created a sizzle reel and outline for it. I was introduced to James Huntsman of Blue Fox Entertainment who liked the idea and offered to executive produce it, and some of my financiers from the UK came on board so I guess I had to put my money where my mouth was so to speak and began to research, interview people and so on.

Bellwoar: One of the people you interview in the documentary is Mark Sennett, who first broke the story with Karen Jackovich for People Magazine, but do you remember when you first learned about what happened to the cast and crew on The Conqueror?

Nunez: Mark Sennett was an important part of this story as he was originally sent to St George to interview Irma Thomas and was told about The Conqueror and the cancer links. Since he lived next door to John Wayne’s son Michael [Wayne] they decided into looking into this further. I did know about the possible link of cancer rates between the cast and crew of The Conqueror and the atomic testing that occurred 135 miles from where they shot the film. As we went down the list of the cast and crew and spoke to the families or actual people who worked on the film, it was hard not to notice how many of them became sick, so it was a pattern that was worth exploring.

Bellwoar: How did the brilliant Sophie Okonedo get involved as narrator?

Nunez:  I always admired her. I thought her voice over abilities was exemplary and she would add much needed context to the overall story, We asked if she would be interested and am glad she said yes.

Bellwoar: It’s definitely suggested that The Conqueror would not be remembered today if it weren’t for what happened behind the scenes and the big names attached to the project, but were there any other films that shot in Saint George, Utah?

Nunez: Actually yes. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid was shot in St George in the late 1960s as well another terrible film called The Car starring James Brolin in the late 1970s. I believe some of the Kevin Costner film, Horizon, was filmed in the area. I must say St George is a beautiful place and very cinematic.

Bellwoar: The one alternative explanation that’s thrown around for why so many of the cast and crew developed cancer is smoking, but do you think the fact that so many kids in Saint George developed cancer, too, throws a wrench in that theory?

Nunez: No one can ever say why one individual gets cancer but they can study clusters. Therefore if 91 out 200 cast and crew get cancers shooting 9 months after a series of atomic tests that were 10 times more powerful than the ones dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and they shot the film during the season where desert storms were blowing constantly on location coupled with the hundreds of horses galloping and kicking up more sand that they would breathe in didn’t help. St George at that time was pretty rural so the fact the kids were getting leukemia 2.5 higher rates than other kids, women getting thyroid cancers at higher rates and men in the 20s with prostate cancers higher than the national average, one can come to similar conclusions.

Bellwoar: Besides the people who worked on The Conqueror, you also make to sure to spotlight the locals who lived in Saint George and who suffered great losses as a result of the atomic testing that was going on in Nevada. How did you first reach out to the residents and did you spend much time in Saint George?

Nunez: Well the documentary was originally going to focus on [the] film The Conqueror. I took a trip to St George to find the locations, the places the actors lived and do some research. However during my stay there, the folks I met had some connection with cancer whether it was their parents, or themselves, and I am speaking about food servers, hotel receptionists, owners of stores, and taxi drivers. That is when I knew I need to elevate their story as well.

Bellwoar: Were you able to get in touch with any members of the Shivwits tribe who were hired to work on The Conqueror?

Nunez: We [did] go into the reservation and asked around as well as called their main office but unfortunately was unable to get any information or cooperation. I really wanted to expand more on their story as we wanted to know if they were able to get any of the compensation as well how the cancer rates between them.

Bellwoar: One mystery that is never solved is what happened to the radioactive soil that was taken from Saint George and transported to one of the soundstages at RKO. Do you still think it’s in one of the backlots there?

Nunez: If it is it is very low level as there has been renovations and a parking garage built where some of the sand was deposited. It would be great to find that one missing order as to where they dumped it, However some of the sand stayed at RKO or Desilu for use in other productions.

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, William!

The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout is now available in select theaters and VOD from Blue Fox Entertainment. For more information, click here.