Warren Jeffs is one of those creepy guys that people read about and wonder how sickos get followers. Except sitting around wondering things is judging, and most people who judge things like that probably make dozens of questionable decisions themselves. Charismatic fucktards can get away with a lot of horrible things, and the more charismatic you are and the more controlling the environment you are in all weigh heavily on what sort of fucked up things you can do. Which is why we got cult leaders killing hundreds, convicted politicians getting reelected, and corporate CEOs answering to no one. But that’s beside the point, which is Warren Jeffs is the subject of a new film on Lifetime!

Scandal‘s Tony Goldwyn plays Warren Jeffs in Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs. The film details the rise of the pastor of the breakaway fundamental sect of the Mormon church and covers a lot of the creepy gross stuff that happened, including Jeffs’ downfall and subsequent years on the run before he was captured and jailed. Jeffs traded wives and underage wives like Pokemon, believing the more wives you had, the more Godly you were. He would reassign his followers’ wives, and the FLDS followed the polygamous cult tradition of expelling extra male members to keep the ratio of women to men high enough for everyone who was loyal enough to get many wives. Jeffs was also a believer that would world would end in the year 2012. Astute readers will remember that the world did not end in 2012, and is in fact still around.

Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs is based on Stephen Singular’s book When Men Become Gods, and took five writers to turn into film – Alyson Evans, Bryce Kass, Steve Kornacki, Art Monterastelli, and Gabriel Range. Director Gabriel Range is best known for the controversial Death of a President, the faux-documentary that examined the response to a fictitious assassination of President George W. Bush. Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs also stars Martin Landau, Molly Parker, and Joey King.

True to the fact that this is an exploitation film, there appears to be a massive amount of near-nudity in the trailer, and even Pastor Jeffs railing away on a girl who is talking about how “I feel God”. So Lifetime is pushing the envelope here again!

Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs premieres Saturday, Jun 28 on Lifetime!

“Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs” is the true story of the fundamentalist Mormon leader who spent more than a year on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted List” for unlawful flight on charges related to his alleged arrangement of illegal marriages involving underage girls. Based on the book When Men Become Gods by New York Times bestselling author Stephen Singular, the movie chronicles Jeffs’ (Tony Goldwyn) rise to power after the death of his father, Rulon Jeffs (Martin Landau). Within days of his father’s passing, Warren married all of his father’s wives and dictatorial control over his polygamist followers ensued. He demanded women in the sect be completely subservient to men, banned laughing, and “reassigned” wives to other men at whim. Jeffs was eventually charged as an accomplice to rape for arranging underage marriages but fled prosecution. After a year-long manhunt, he was finally apprehended in Texas and brought back to trial. The courtroom testimony of two brave young women who escaped his reign of terror ensured he would finally be convicted and sentenced to life in prison. “Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs” gives an inside look at the psychology of a cult leader and those who blindly followed him. Even to this day with their leader behind bars, members of his polygamist cult still believe that he is the prophet chosen by God himself.

via Lifetime