I’ve made it no secret that I am a huge Nancy Drew fan. She is my all time favorite detective. Over the years I’ve tried to look at material starring the most famous girl detective that fits the spooky season. Welp, I’m starting to run dry there.
Alas, there isn’t much left for my favorite girl detective in terms of spooky material left. Sure, there are some ghost stories featuring and I might look at those. But when I can’t figure out anything else to look at, I go to my favorite thing to cover. Villains. Now obviously as Nance stars in mystery stories, there will be spoilers abound when looking at her villains.
Though that presents another interesting case as Nancy Drew is one of the oldest characters I am a fan of. She has adaptions that date back to before our parents were born. I don’t want to go that far back so instead I’ll be looking at modern adaptions. Even if the first adaption I’m looking at is eighteen years old now.
The 2007 Nancy Drew movie is iconic imo. I don’t feel it got the love it deserved but this movie is a true celebration of one of my favorite characters. The movie even opens with credits that recreate the iconic illustrations from the original books but featuring the Nancy Drew that is played by Emma Roberts. It even goes as far to reference the book titles and tie them into her mystery as she is on a fan site for a famous actress as she is investigating her disappearance the movies she starred in are titles of the classic books.
This movie takes my beloved detective out of River Heights and places her in the glitz and glam of Hollywood. The villain, Dashiel Biedermeyer ties into the overarching mystery.
First Appearance
We first see him when Nance is going around trying to get information on the disappearance of Dehlia Draycott, who is presented as an old school Hollywood actress that used to live in the house that Nancy and her father are staying in. It’s house filled with mysteries, would you expect her to pick anything less.
Personality
At first, he seems at bit cold and stoic like a business associate would. And he’s a business associate of Carson, Nancy’s father. I’ve now seen this in two Nancy Drew movies and it kinda gets old even if it is just two movies.
Yet, once the truth of the monster that he is as he killed Dehilia all because she wanted to quit acting to go and raise her baby. Her baby was given up and she didn’t know who her mother was until years later. This speaks into an another reason why Nance was so invested in this case, her mother died when she was very young and never got to know. Nancy in her way probably thought it was a way to help another daughter get close to the mother she never knew.
Motive
Motive sounds a bit better than grand desire when talking about mystery villains. Maybe I should keep it as motive for non mystery villains too. He is after the will that Dehlia left behind. This is where a big angle of the mystery comes in as she made sure to hide where no one could find it. This is a big part of what leads Nancy down the rabbit hole. We first get a tase of who this guy might be with one of the late actress’s letters dressed to someone she only identifies as Z. Yeah, turns out his middle name is Zachary.
Most Evil Deed
Well, it has to what kicked off this movie in the first place. Being him murdering Dehlia. His ego couldn’t help that his star client wanted to step away from the spotlight. It’s such a cruel thing to do to someone that cared about you and you claimed to care about her.
Demise
Nance tricks him into committing his heinous crime and recorded it. Nancy is always thinking a few steps ahead like that. This confession leads to him and his goons, who I didn’t talk about because they are useless to be arrested.
Is Dashiel Zachary Biedermeyer A Good Villain?
Heh, he’s fine. He’s not why I watch this movie. I watch this movie for the celebration of Nancy Drew that it is. I love this movie so much I even have the novelization of it in my collection of Nancy Drew books. This movie may not be what made me a Nancy Drew fan but it celebrates why I love her so much. Join me next time as we look at the villain of a 2019 movie that adapted one of the most iconic books as I look at the film adaption of Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase
About Author
It’s always weird to see Barry Bostwick in a villainous role. I’m just so used to him playing charming or quirky everyman protagonists.
Yeah, that took me a moment too.