While speaking with News Centre 7 to promote "The Deliberate Stranger" in 1986, Mark Harmon opened up about stepping into the shoes of Ted Bundy. The actor's initial thought was to meet Bundy, who was arrested in 1978 (via WKRG) for murdering over 30 women. "When I first got the script, my very first reaction was to jump the first plane to Florida and try to meet with him," Harmon said. The actor continued by saying director Marvin Chomsky advised him not to. "This is a guy who's never admitted his guilt, so a great percentage of what I could have hoped to meet in Florida...would have been based around meeting a charming guy who everybody else thought they knew initially," Harmon said.
Instead of choosing to meet with Bundy, Harmon took a different approach that was far more empathetic towards the victims. As the actor wanted to portray Bundy "very honestly," he decided it was best to spend time with people who knew the killer personally. In a separate interview with the same outlet (via YouTube), Harmon discussed how he spent a considerable amount of time studying the killer and how meeting individuals in Bundy's life was an interesting experience. "I spent time with people who knew Bundy pretty well," Harmon revealed. "That people were at times confusing me with the real person I guess is kind of a pat on the back."
The future "NCIS" actor was praised for his performance as the serial killer, with TV Guide saying "Harmon acquits himself admirably, using his piercing eyes to chill as well as charm and [to get] inside [the] character's solipsistic amorality."
