Jesse Moss’ film ‘Con Man,’ about the life of James Hogue, will be screened at the First Person Festival in Philadelphia.
By: Jillian Kalonick
When a student named Jay Huntsman came out of nowhere to enroll as a senior cross country star at Palo Alto High School in 1985, he was dubbed "mystery boy." Six years later, at Princeton University, another unusually gifted runner and academic whiz, Alexi Santana, earned the nickname "Sexy Alexi" because of his reputation on campus. It wasn’t until a chance encounter at Princeton that someone discovered these two men were the same and neither identity was real.
Filmmaker Jesse Moss chronicles the bizarre and fascinating story of James Hogue, who used a fake identity to gain admission into Princeton University in 1988, in his documentary Con Man. Those interviewed in the film call Mr. Hogue a swindler and imposter, but also brilliant and a genius. The film will be featured in the program "Secrets and Lies" on June 3, part of the third annual First Person Festival in Philadelphia June 1 to 11. "Secrets and Lies" will feature readings and discussion with Mary Gordon, Michael Finkel, John Richardson and Mr. Moss, as well as a screening of Con Man.
Mr. Moss first became aware of a person named Jay Huntsman when they were both attending Palo Alto High School in 1985. "I knew there was a new student," says Mr. Moss. "I heard his name around, and we weren’t friends, but he was very popular and a sensation on campus. I thought I knew who he was, but like everyone else, I later found out his true identity."
After six weeks at the school, Jay Huntsman was revealed to be James Hogue, a 26-year-old man who had conned his way into Palo Alto High. He disappeared after that, but when Mr. Moss was studying at the University of California at Berkley in 1991, he picked up a newspaper and discovered that Mr. Hogue had done it again this time at Princeton University. He excelled at Princeton for three semesters before he was discovered and arrested.
Mr. Moss became fascinated with the story of Mr. Hogue, tracking down his childhood friends, interviewing those who knew him and trying to piece together the mystery of his various identities. HBO offered to provide additional funding for the film if Mr. Hogue who had never agreed to an interview with the press would speak with Mr. Moss.
Not surprisingly, tracking down a con man wasn’t easy, and once Mr. Moss did find Mr. Hogue he was extremely reluctant to discuss his motivations. During the interviews, he wore a baseball cap pulled down over his face and wouldn’t make eye contact with the camera; when he was at Princeton, students said he did the same thing. In footage shot in a Trenton courtroom, Mr. Hogue’s deceptive personality is apparent as he avoids eye contact, he also appears to be hiding a grin.
"You see in court where he seems to smile and wink at the camera, but he looks uncomfortable to me," says Mr. Moss. "I always felt tension from him when he was working with me. He is extremely hesitant to talk about himself it’s what made him both interesting but difficult as a subject. I never believed he would participate in my film. Many other journalists had tried to approach him, and he refused to talk to any of them."
Mr. Moss took a chance, sending him a five-minute trailer he had put together for the film, attempting to show him that he had a sincere interest in showing Mr. Hogue’s side of the events.
"I think part of him has always wanted to tell his story, and to be successful and famous," says Mr. Moss. "He’s extremely confident in a way it’s a combination of arrogance and crippling insecurity. Ultimately it was arrogance that drew him to the film he probably thought he could control the process."
Mr. Moss decided to open Con Man with Mr. Hogue’s arrest at Princeton when most people became aware that he wasn’t who he said he was and then go back to Palo Alto High, tracing his journey into admission and matriculation at Princeton. The film then focuses on James’ childhood and his first college experience at the University of Wyoming, the only place in his running career where he was not a star. Con Man concludes with Mr. Hogue showing Mr. Moss the property he owns, a deserted stretch of land in Colorado, and Mr. Moss’ attempts to get Mr. Hogue to talk about why he did what he did.
"The question that motivated the film was, ‘Is Alexi Santana the full realization of James Hogue as a person?’" says Mr. Moss. "Two years into that experience, was he Hogue or Santana, or somewhere in between? Who was he? Who are we? Had he so embraced being Alexi that he had forgotten James Hogue? I don’t know the answer to that. The sense maybe you get in the film is that this person is somewhere in between two places. It’s kind of a sad, lonely place. It was revealing to visit his ranch it’s a desolate, lonely place."
Mr. Moss has directed several documentaries since he completed Con Man in 2001, including Speedo, about demolition derby champion Ed "Speedo" Jager, and Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood, but he is still involved in Mr. Hogue’s story. People who knew Mr. Hogue as Alexi Santana or in other incarnations often e-mail him, and Mr. Hogue’s family contacts him to find out how Mr. Hogue is. In February, Mr. Hogue was arrested on felony theft charges, and he is currently in jail in Telluride, Colo.
"It’s really sad," says Mr. Moss. "Living as himself he’s got this compulsion of kleptomania. He doesn’t need money or stuff, but he needed to steal and it caught up with him again. I feel bad for him he’s probably going to spend another 10 years of his life in prison."
After Mr. Hogue was arrested in a Princeton geology lab a month after he was admitted to the Ivy Club, the university’s most selective eating club Princeton officials declared his application null and void, which meant he had never been a student there. He was permanently banned from the campus (a rule he didn’t follow), but 15 years later, Mr. Hogue is showing up at Princeton again, in another form. Clayton Marsh, who serves as university counsel, is ending a literature-based alumni studies course he teaches on the Internet titled "Born Again: Self-Invention and Imposture in America" with a discussion of Mr. Hogue, and there will be a screening of the film on campus during reunions.
"I think it’s a tragedy in some respects that (Mr. Hogue’s) journey ended so abruptly," says Mr. Moss. "He was never able to get the education he wanted. Of course he wanted what many of us want an Ivy League education.
"I think there’s a universality to Hogue’s story, which is that many of us have a public and private face, and have regrets," he continues. "We wish we could go back and do things over again. That’s what connects people to his story. He lived out our collective fantasy, and he shows us the price of doing that."
The fifth annual First Person Festival will feature Secrets and Lies, with filmmaker Jesse Moss and authors Mary Gordon, Michael Finkel and John Richardson, at the Gershman Y, University of the Arts, Levitt Auditorium, 401 S. Broad St., Phila., June 3, 7-10 p.m. Tickets cost $25, $12.50 First Person members, $8 Con Man screening only. For information, call (267) 402-2055. On the Web: www.firstpersonfestival.org. Jesse Moss on the Web: www.mileendfilms.com

