Dangerous Breed Director On First Meeting Teddy Hart, Working On Docuseries

The new docuseries Dangerous Breed looks at Teddy Hart’s life and allegations against him, and director Frederick Kroetsch recently talked about working on the project. Kroetsch spoke with Wrestling Inc for a new interview promoting the Peacock docuseries, which looks into allegations of sexual misconduct against Hart as well as the disappearance of his protégé and ex-girlfriend Samantha Fiddler. You can see a couple of highlights from the interview below:

On when he first met Hart: “It was many years ago that I first met Teddy — I think 10 or 11 years. I was filming a documentary about indie prairie wrestling promotions. Some of the wrestlers I met told me about a wild and unpredictable wrestler named Teddy. Since everyone was so damn nice in the prairie wrestling circuit, I decided I should meet Teddy and add an over-the-top character to my project. Eventually I decided to just follow Teddy, and frame the show around him and his unusual mansion menagerie.”

on when he first realized Hart might ‘have a dangerous edge’: “There were little moments where I would see a look in Teddy’s eye, but usually I just chocked that up to marijuana. The people that hung around him said nice things about him. I didn’t fully realize what was going on until The Calgary Sun published an article about his charges. Then my world caved in and I was forced to re-evaluate things.”

On how working on the docuseries affected his perception of wrestling: “I met so many amazing people in the world of wrestling. I can’t emphasize enough how many nice people I met. I didn’t initially realize how damn hard wrestlers work at what they do, how much talent and persistence it takes, how much a bump can hurt. However, like every subculture, it has its dark corners. I became fascinated by the concept of kayfabe. As a documentary filmmaker, I’m fascinated by the intersection of narrative and non-narrative elements, and Teddy was the ultimate act of Kayfabe. Who was the wrestler, who was the man behind the wrestler? It was a constantly shifting skein: What was fact and what was fiction?”