New Jack Black Movie Set in Carthage, Texas, is Based on True Story [VIDEO]

Check out the first official trailer for Dazed and Confused director Richard Linklater’s upcoming black comedy Bernie.

Based on the true story of wealthy widow Marjorie Nugent’s murder at the hands of her then-39-year-old companion Bernie Tiede, the film stars Jack Black as Tiede, Shirley MacLaine as Nugent, and Matthew McConaughey as the local DA.

A theatrical release has been set for March 2nd.

According to the Amarillo Globe-News of October 26, 1998, Tiede—a former funeral director and mortician—was 39 years-old in November 1996, when he shot Nugent in the back four times with a rifle. It was alleged that Nugent had discovered that Tiede was stealing money from her and that she was in the act of fleeing from him when she was shot multiple times. Tiede then stuffed Nugent’s body in a freezer used to store food at her Carthage home, and then sealed the freezer with duct tape. Nine months later, Nugent’s son, Amarillo pathologist Dr. Rod Nugent was contacted by police when they became suspicious and called him for help. Dr. Nugent found his mother’s body in the freezer, wrapped in a white sheet.

The Amarillo Globe-News reported that when Tiede was arrested police searched his home and found many videotapes showing Tiede “engaging in homosexual acts.” Tiede admitted the crime to police in August 1997. He also admitted that he gave large gifts to several male friends in Carthage using Nugent’s money. At his trial Tiede alleged in his defense that the 81 year-old Nugent was guilty of abusing him, driving him to murder her to escape the alleged emotional abuse