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Walter Mercado was aboutpuro amor,pure love.
He owns my life, he says.
To his fans, he just vanished.
Many years later, Mercado regained the rights to his name and likeness.
Though the two men stopped communicating, Mercado never expressed anger or hate toward Bakula, even then.
Online, criticism of Bakula is as plentiful and creative as Mercados collection of capes.
He sold his name.
He sold his brand.
There was a disagreement in how they viewed things and the black letter of the contract.
So, we went to court.
How did you track down Bill Bakula?
It was that simple.
As we started digging in, there was very little coverage of this seemingly obscure federal court case.
It was a civil suit over what appeared to be his name rights, which was very confusing.
Even companies that bear his own name suing him, like Waltervision.
I started looking online and [Bakula] doesnt have a very big footprint.
He had no social media footprint.
Now, theres a couple of accounts that have popped up.
I dont know if its actually him or not.
So, I messaged Brent.
I had a conversation with Brent on the phone.
Then I messaged Bill on WhatsApp.
Hi Alex, this is Bill Bakula.
We knew that the reason Walter was onPrimer Impactowas because of Bill Bakula.
So, in a sense, without Bill, there is no obsession for millennials with Walter.
When are we interviewing Bill?
And Bill was in Thailand running an agriculture business for the Thai government.
What?Fumero:The obvious next career step for an entertainment manager!
He was cooperating with the Thai government and was living in Phuket.
We basically just talked about his building up Walters career.
His tone was like he was game.
We were like, No, that wont work.
And then they came back with very simple notes.
We finally caught him on a stopover in Los Angeles.
And I said, No, no.
This is an interview for the documentary.
He said, I just cant do it on camera.
He was forthcoming with how he felt about the situation.
I think Bill would say that his side of the story is accurately depicted in the film.
Fumero:He told us he would give us access to thisarchive of Walters stuff in Miami.
I spent weeks trying to schedule a second interview with him at this storage facility, which never transpired.
We were never able to pin it down.
Is he still in Thailand?Fumero: I dont know, to be honest.
Costantini: I dont believe he is.
Where did you meet him in Los Angeles?Fumero:At an Airbnb studio that we rented.
Costantini:It was three or four hours.
Neither one of them had anything negative to say about the other.
They retained a great deal of respect and affection for one another.
Bill does have some unpleasant things to say about the family, as you see in the film.
But Walter would only say wonderful things about Bill.
They would put aside the complications of the legal battle aside when they talked about one another.
Walters family talked about Bill breaking Walters heart.
He would avoid talking about the bad times at all costs.
But he really did have an immense amount of affection for Bill.
I think thats confusing to a lot of people.
A lot of people want Walter to hate Bill.
And I dont think he did.
I think he was really frustrated by the way things happened and hurt by the way it worked out.
They were like,We made something great together.
When times were great, they were amazing.
And then they got a really ugly divorce.
Were you surprised that they didnt criticize each other?Costantini: Absolutely.
I was like, Walter must have so much rage.
Walter must have so much anger about what happened.
And it was mostly sadness he had for those times.
Fumero: The family was very upset.
Ithink thats what finally got through to Walter.
And they still seem to suffer because of what you went through.
That connected with him.
This is where the real tension is.
You hear Bill say, The family ruined a good thing.
And the family go, Bill took advantage of Walter.
Costantini: Personally, would I do that?
If I was in that situation, would I act as Bill acted?
But we tried our best to present both sides.
Looking at Twitter, Im actually shocked by how mad some people are at Bill.
In his view, he was giving a person a contract who had a lawyer.
I think its debatable about how much he knew that Walter wouldnt have that lawyer read it.
Im also upset with the lawyer, honestly.
Thats the person that was supposed to protect Walter.
Fumero: We were unable to reach the original attorney.
Then theres Walters attempt to renegotiate and [Bills] reluctance to renegotiate in good faith.
Thats the part that, for me, doesnt make sense.
It struck me as odd.
I would want to renegotiate if it was going to lead to legal battles.
Legal battles with representatives all over the world.
That cost so much.Fumero: We were told millions.
That brings up one of the things I would like you to clear up.
But the paperwork shown on camera says the demand was for almost $15 million.
Whats the truth?Tabsch:Thats a little complicated.
If I recollect, the $15 million was the actual damages that they were seeking.
That is a significant stretch from Were only seeking a dollar in damages.
to thrive in this industry, you gotta have a good personality.
Do you think he felt a genuine friendship with Walter?
I recall him saying that to us that Walter was singular.
He had never encountered somebody like Walter.
And I do think that there was genuine affection between the two of them.
In the film, Walter says as much that Bill was a huge figure.He was the best.
He was the master.He said he helped make him the most well-known psychic in the world.
Constantini: They spent years together on the road, traveling all over together.
[Bill] would set up events and conventions and talks all over the world.
I think [Walter] was very grateful to Bill for that.
They grew close during those times that they spent on the road together.
And we said, Were certain it was a heart attack.
And hes like, You might want to check that.
And we said like, No, no, Bill.
So, its conceivable that he didnt know the details of it.
Did Walter talk about wanting to be in contact with Bill?Constantini: No.
Nor did we ask him.
What did he say?Constantini: He loved it.
We were still editing.
We were with him about five weeks before he passed away.
It was all of this footage that he hadnt seen in a very long time.
He was in shock.
He said, I didnt like it Im obsessed with it.
Have you heard from Bill since the movie came out?Constantini:We think hes seen it.
Or parts of it.
Fumero: Ive gotten a few messages from him.
And then that strong arm flex emoji.
I wouldnt have pegged him for an emoji guy.Fumero:Helovesemojis.
I dont know if hes actually watched the whole thing, but hes acting as though he has.
I dont really know what to think of it.
But from my point of view, we just told the truth.He sat down and answered all the questions.
He then told us he would love to show us his storage facility with all the Walter stuff.
I chased him for months about that and it was always like, Are you in Miami?
And hed be like, I was there yesterday.
I dont know if he was busy or he actually didnt really want to show us.
Now I want to see that storage facility.Tabsch: Oh, I know.
He realizes thats part of his own legacy.
And he boasts about that.
And I think that that was part of why he wanted to show us the storage facility.
We tried to figure it out a million times and it just never came to pass.
Constantini:We all wanted to see that storage facility.
Fumero:The Walter chair is in there.
I really wanted to see that.
