{"id":680156,"date":"2025-07-16T10:10:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T07:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/but-what-if-balloon-boy-wasnt-a-hoax\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T10:10:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T07:10:25","slug":"but-what-if-balloon-boy-wasnt-a-hoax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/but-what-if-balloon-boy-wasnt-a-hoax\/","title":{"rendered":"But What if \u201cBalloon Boy\u201d Wasn\u2019t a Hoax?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tWhen filmmaker Gillian Pachter watched the 2009 \u201cBalloon Boy\u201d saga unfold live, she told The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>, \u201cI couldn\u2019t take my eyes away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSame.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was scared, I but I was also very aware of how, like, special and strange it was that I was watching a livestream, you know?\u201d the director of Trainwreck: Balloon Boy<\/em> says about the next chapter in Netflix\u2018s excellent Trainwreck<\/em> documentary, the anthology series<\/a> that revisits headline-making events gone wrong. \u201cLivestreaming was new, and I just couldn\u2019t believe how clearly I could see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter all, the streaming giant only just recently nailed that livestreaming thing itself.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Oct. 15, 2009, Americans tuned in \u2014 however they could \u2014 to follow the insane and terrifying flight of Richard Heene\u2019s experimental weather balloon\/flying saucer. Heene\u2019s 6-year-old son, Falcon Heene, was believed to be inside the contraption when it became untethered from the ground. As it turns out, Falcon was actually hiding in the garage attic and supposedly napp<\/a>ed through the whole ordeal, which turned out to be no big ordeal at all \u2014 until later, when it was deemed a hoax perpetrated by inventor, amateur scientist and guy-who-acted-like-an-insane-asshole-once-on-an-episode-of-Wife Swap<\/em>, Richard Heene.<\/p>\n

\n\tUltimately, Richard Heene pleaded guilty to a felony charge of\u00a0attempting to influence a public servant; his wife Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false reporting to authorities. And then a decade later, weirdly and seemingly out of nowhere, the Heenes\u2019 crimes were pardoned by the governor of Colorado.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnd I thought, \u2018My God,\u2019\u201d Pachter recalled. \u201cYou always wonder, when people get pardoned, like, does that mean we got it wrong? Why were they chosen [to be pardoned]? Because they were so vilified.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMaybe\u2026 it wasn\u2019t<\/em> a hoax?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI also have a little boy who was about the same age, and I thought, \u2018What kind of dad even pretends that his son is maybe going to fall out of balloon and die?\u2019\u201d she continued. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s just such a bizarre thing to even think \u2014 if you\u2019re going to choose a hoax, why entertain the fantasy that your own child is in mortal danger?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Heenes now say they pleaded guilty out of concern that Mayumi could be deported if they didn\u2019t play ball. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe more I talked to [Richard], the more I started wondering if my understanding of the story was everything there was to know, and if there weren\u2019t other truths behind it that I wasn\u2019t aware of,\u201d Pachter told THR<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat phrase \u201cother truths\u201d looms large in our \u201cfake news<\/a>\u201d era, 16 years removed from \u201cBalloon Boy.\u201d Read our Q&A with Pachter below; the Balloon Boy<\/em> installment of Trainwreck<\/em> is available now on Netflix.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tNetflix\u2019s Trainwreck Balloon Boy<\/em> documentary.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Netflix<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tSo do you believe it was a hoax, or do you think it was real?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSorry to be coy but look, if I didn\u2019t think there was a very strong possibility that we got it wrong, and the thing wasn\u2019t actually a hoax but a real panicked call to the sheriff because these people thought their son was up there \u2014 if I didn\u2019t think that was a strong possibility, there would have been no point making the film, right? It\u2019s not just a documentary that looks back at a crazy day in our social<\/a> history \u2014 it is looking back to see whether we got it right or whether we got it wrong.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s a lot of evidence on both sides, and all the voices are in it. I guess I just feel really strongly that \u2014 I put everyone in there and I want people to look at it again, and I want people to hear from everybody. I want them to try to come to their own conclusion about who\u2019s right and who\u2019s wrong. Because the truth is in the heart of Richard Heene, right? It\u2019s kind of unprovable. The question is, \u201cWhat was in his heart when he called the sheriff? Was he lying or was he really panicked?\u201d You\u2019re not going to be able to actually prove that, so you\u2019re going to have to just listen to people tell their truths and see who you believe.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe turning point in the public\u2019s perception was when Falcon, asked on a live CNN interview why he didn\u2019t come out of hiding if he heard his family calling for him, says, \u201cYou guys said that we did this for the show.\u201d The media took that as a clear admission of a hoax, but in hindsight \u2014 and now as a parent myself \u2014 he was also just a tuned-out little boy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI have a very similar thought. \u201cWhat news story has ever flipped on 10 words uttered by a 6 year old?\u201d I can\u2019t think of another. It wouldn\u2019t be admissible in court, it\u2019s not evidence. There\u2019s no way that could be taken seriously in any form of criminal process at all. And yet it completely flips the public\u2019s view and the sheriff\u2019s view. I was sort of dying. If only we had been able to turn back time and say, as a follow up question, \u201cFalcon, when you say, \u2018You said, we did this for the show\u2019 \u2014 which show are you talking about?\u201d If there had been about five more sentences, even from a 6 year old, you might have been able to get to grips with it. But like, 10 words, which were \u201cYou guys said we did this for the show\u201d \u2014 I\u2019m just astonished that people think they know what that means. Because I have no idea what that means.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I was asking the Heenes about it, they have various explanations, but their initial one is, \u201cI have no idea why he said that.\u201d Everybody needs them to have this . And they did sort of search for and find \u2014 according to them \u2014 this explanation of Falcon getting confused with the reporters that were around in the aftermath. But actually, it seemed like the most genuine response for them was, like, \u201cHe said dumb shit all the time. We had no idea what he was talking about or why he would be under that impression.\u201d That, to me, is very realistic. As somebody who has had a 6-year-old boy, I just don\u2019t understand why people were so sure they knew what that meant. Because I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou told me Richard wasn\u2019t hard to find \u2014 in general<\/a>, is it easier to get access to your documentary subjects these days than it used to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI think it\u2019s actually gotten harder. It\u2019s not like the Heene family was particularly naive about the media. They were really hard-nosed and really suspicious, and they were really not interested in getting involved with anybody that was in the media. So it was actually years of talking to each other.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeople aren\u2019t stupid, and they can tell whether you\u2019re sincere or not. I was sincerely open to them in a way that people who had approached them before were not. I wasn\u2019t faking it, and they knew that. At the end of the day, it\u2019s not a documentary about me and my opinions, it\u2019s a platform [on which] they tell their full story, and so does everybody else. But I did think there was cause to give them that opportunity.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre you friends with Richard at this point?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tRichard and I are incredibly different. I really like him. He\u2019s not a straightforward person, he\u2019s not an easy person. He\u2019s not even a consistent person. I wouldn\u2019t have sunk all this time into that family if I didn\u2019t find them massively engaging and fascinating, and if I didn\u2019t actually like them. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever made a program about anybody I didn\u2019t like. [I\u2019m] very drawn to getting to know somebody who maybe a lot of people don\u2019t like, and seeing what they dislike in them. So I think there\u2019s a lot to like in him \u2014 and the boys are great \u2014 charming, smart. It\u2019s really funny to have met them as adults when I saw this home-video stuff of them when they were crazy little kids.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tThe Heene Family on Wife Swap.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images Television Network via Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tRichard was an asshole on Wife Swap<\/em>, but that may not be the best format to judge anybody. He\u2019s a really smart guy, maybe a bit tortured\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tThe sort of essence that I found really engaging is a classic American archetype. He\u2019s a dreamer, right? Some people would see him as a con man, which is another classic American archetype. But I see him as a dreamer. Here\u2019s this guy who was not formally educated to be a scientist \u2014 [he\u2019s] incredibly inventive, crazy out-of-the-box thinking. The whole flying saucer thing was that it was going to be this dirigible that was going to replace cars, and we\u2019re going to be like The Jetsons<\/em> and be commuting to work on these things. You have to just love that totally outrageous, outsized imagination. And everything with that family was so outsized, and that is wonderful. And it all went wrong, but it\u2019s still wonderful to have done the crazy things, which is what that family has always done.<\/p>\n

\n\tThey\u2019re a crazy family, but they also seem like a lovely family<\/strong> that does everything together.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAnd they still do. They\u2019re really, really tight. They\u2019re very uniquely bonded.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid Richard have any Wife Swap<\/em>-esque blowups with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tNo. He did pull out on the morning of filming, but that\u2019s less uncommon than you would think in my line of work. He\u2019s very moody\u2026 you never totally know where you [stand]. So I didn\u2019t even know until the cameras were rolling that we were going to really be able to make this. But no, if he had ever shouted at me, I wouldn\u2019t have stood for that \u2014 but I felt that we were very familiar with each other by that point.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe did have these incredibly fierce dogs that kept on throwing themselves at me, which was distracting. So I was not being attacked by Richard Heene, but I was definitely being attacked by his dogs.<\/p>\n

\n\tDangerous dogs or yappy dogs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m not a great judge \u2014 I\u2019m not a dog person. I feel like, if it has fangs and it\u2019s taller than I am on its hind legs and it\u2019s coming at me [in a way that\u2019s] not like a hug\u2026 but I don\u2019t really know dogs.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tTrainwreck: Balloon Boy is now streaming on Netflix.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When filmmaker Gillian Pachter watched the 2009 \u201cBalloon Boy\u201d saga unfold live, she told The Hollywood Reporter, \u201cI couldn\u2019t take my eyes away.\u201d Same. \u201cI was scared, I but I was also very aware of how, like, special and strange it was that I was watching a livestream, you know?\u201d the director of Trainwreck: Balloon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":680157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Trainwreck-Balloon-Boy-Still-Publicity-H-2025.jpg?w=1296&h=730&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[157671,65799,1377,157672,18369],"class_list":["post-680156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-balloon-boy","tag-documentaries","tag-netflix","tag-richard-heene","tag-trainwreck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}