How Long Is “talhotblond”?

Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be," and while he penned those words in 1961, they seem especially apt in a time when people can easily create an alternate identity for themselves in cyberspace. Director Barbara Schroeder presents a true-life story in which creating an on-line alter ego has deadly consequences in the documentary talhotblond. Thomas Montgomery, a man from upstate New York with a failing marriage and a dead-end job, found himself spending a lot of time in internet chat rooms, where he told people he was "marinesniper," a rugged eighteen-year-old serving in Iraq. "Marinesniper" began chatting with "talhotblond," an eighteen-year-old girl from West Virginia, and their relationship progressed into cybersex sessions and a proposal of marriage. Eventually, "talhotblond" discovered that "marinesniper" wasn't who he claimed to be, and to get even she began an online relationship with "beefcake," one of Montgomery's co-workers who was on his on-line friends list. In time, the interaction between these characters led to real-life jealousy that ended with gunfire and a murder trial in which the surprising secrets about each party was revealed. talhotblond received its world premiere at the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize in the Documentary competition.