The presence of those working on Hulu‘s Amanda Knox series in the Italian city of Perugia is prompting backlash after filming began near where student Meredith Kercher was found stabbed to death 17 years ago.
Residents displayed banners reading “Rispetto per Meredith” (respect for Meredith) around the city as cast and crew members for Blue Moon — executive produced by Knox herself — arrived to get production underway.
The eight-part drama, starring Grace Van Patten (Tell Me Lies), will air on the Disney-owned streaming service and detail Knox’s battle to clear her name when she was convicted of the 21-year-old’s murder in 2007.
After substantial flaws were uncovered in the initial police investigation, Knox and Italian ex-partner Raffaele Sollecito were released from prison in 2011 and definitively acquitted by the Italian Supreme Court in 2015. Knox later became an activist, journalist, and authored the memoir Waiting to Be Heard. Rudy Guede was eventually found guilty of Kercher’s death and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Now 37, Knox is attracting further outcry from locals, evident in Perugia’s mayor issuing a letter apologizing to her citizens that filming was allowed to take place. Vittoria Ferdinandi said she believed permitting the production would give the Italians “control” over the scenes filmed.
“We could have not authorized the filming of five scenes in Perugia,” the mayor said, “but they would have been filmed in any other town in our region… We believed that allowing [the scenes] to be filmed here would provide us an element of greater guarantee and control because — as we requested — we are able to view and authorize every scene.”
Only last week, Kercher’s sister Stephanie had said that her family found it “difficult to understand” how Knox’s series served any purpose. Representatives from Hulu did not immediately respond to comment from The Hollywood Reporter.
Blue Moon, which once had Margaret Qualley attached as its star and executive producer before she left the project, is based on “the true story of how Knox was wrongfully convicted for the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher and her 16-year odyssey to set herself free,” according to the official synopsis.
K.J. Steinberg (This Is Us) serves as creator and executive producer. Warren Littlefield, Lisa Harrison, Ann Johnson, & Graham Littlefield (The Littlefield Company) are also executive producers alongside Monica Lewinsky, Knox and Chris Robinson (Knox Robinson Productions).
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