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The National Geographic Channel bought the rights to Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Reagan" and turned it into a TV movie — using as little of the book as possible.

The book has been criticized by Reagan biographers, members of the Reagan family and members of the Reagan administration for inaccuracies and outright fabrications.

O'Reilly, who co-wrote the book with Martin Dugard, has defended it. Director Rod Lurie and scriptwriter Eric Simonson did not.

"Yeah, we know about the criticism," said Simonson, who read "at least 25 different biographies and accounts of this event" and turned to a team of "diligent researchers."

"We were very conscientious and very concerned that we give the story the way that it happened," he said.

Which, according to those who actually knew Reagan and those who researched biographies about him, O'Reilly's book was not.

The TV movie (Sunday, Oct. 16, at 6, 8:05 and 10:05 p.m., NGC) is a shallow retelling of the events surrounding the March 30, 1981, assassination attempt by John Hinckley Jr. (Kyle S. More), who was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. It opens during Reagan's (Tim Matheson) campaign against Jimmy Carter; includes the sole Reagan-Carter debate; follows Hinckley as he tries to impress actor Jodie Foster; re-creates the shooting and its aftermath; and concludes with Reagan's speech to Congress a few weeks later.

The book covered a lot more ground, beginning with Reagan's childhood.

"Eric made the decision to confine it to this six-month period," Lurie said. "So a lot of [debunked segments in the book] are things that we didn't even really need to deal with or to even consider."

Well, not quite. The "Killing Reagan" book pushed the theory that the shooting caused the president's mental decline; the TV movie hints at that.

Lurie went out of his way to distance himself from O'Reilly.

"I was telling the story that Eric gave to me to work with," he said, "and I'm working more on Eric Simonson's 'Killing Reagan' than I am on Bill O'Reilly's.

"And I don't mean that as a diss to Bill at all."

According to producer David Zucker and Lurie, O'Reilly's participation in the TV movie was minimal.

"He does read the draft after we go through the development process with Nat Geo, and he will review the cuts and give his thoughts," Zucker said. "He likes to sort of touch base with all of the principals as we go through the process, but he's not intrusive in any way."

Although he did show up on the set one day and awed the extras — and even Lurie, apparently.

"It was as if a combination of the Beatles and God had walked into the room," Lurie said. "And for the first time, I was able to understand with my own eyes the incredible … influence that he has and how so many people really, really do love him. Fox is not my news broadcast of choice, so to speak, but … I'm beginning to understand that he's a very magnetic guy."

Even if he writes books full of inaccuracies and fabrications.

Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce. —

On TV

The TV movie "Killing Reagan" airs Sunday at 6, 8:05 and 10:05 p.m. on National Geographic Channel.