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American journalist Amanda Knox addresses a panel discussion titled “Media Trial” during the Criminal Justice Festival at the University of Law in Modena, northern Italy, June 15, 2019.
VINCENZO PINTO | AFP | Getty Images
Amanda Knox is speaking out against Matt Damon’s new film “Stillwater”.
The journalist, who was wrongly convicted of Meredith Kercher’s murder and later acquitted of the crime, took to Twitter on Thursday to castigate director Tom McCarthy and the media for linking her name to the project.
“Does my name belong to me?” My face ? What about my life? My story ? Why does my name refer to events I haven’t attended? I come back to these questions because others continue to enjoy my name, my face and my story. without my consent, ”she wrote in the first in a series of tweets.
Knox’s Twitter feed, which also runs as an essay on Medium, went on to address sexism, victim erasure and its treatment in the press and popular culture over the past 14 years.
Since making its Cannes Film Festival debut earlier this month, “Stillwater” has received mixed reviews from critics and sparked debate as to how it may have been inspired by Knox’s own experience.
In interviews, McCarthy has argued that the story is completely fictional and told Cleveland.com “that there is no similarity in our two stories beyond an American student in prison.”
In McCarthy’s film, Damon plays Bill Baker, an Oklahoma oil rig worker who travels to Marseille, France after his daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin) is jailed for a murder she did not commit. Eager to prove his daughter’s innocence, Bill takes matters into his own hands, but comes up against language barriers and a complicated legal system.
The director told Vanity Fair that after hearing about Knox, he couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to be him. He also said he wanted to explore what it would be like for his loved ones to endure this kind of tragedy.
Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin attend the “Stillwater” New York premiere at Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center on July 26, 2021 in New York City.
Michel Loccisano | WireImage | Getty Images
Knox said that “Stillwater,” which releases in the US and Canada on Friday, is “by no means the first” to “rip off” its story without its consent and to the detriment of its reputation.
The film’s ending differs greatly from the actual events of Knox’s acquittal, she said. In the movie, Allison is revealed to have asked the killer to help her get rid of her roommate. While she did not intend for him to kill her, her request indirectly led to the murder.
“How do you think this affects my reputation?” Knox wrote. “By fictionalizing my innocence, my complete lack of involvement, by erasing the role of the authorities in my wrongful conviction, McCarthy reinforces an image of me as a guilty and untrustworthy person.”
Knox said McCarthy and Damon had “no moral obligation” to consult with her about the fictional story, but said she and her family would have had a lot to say to the director if he had reached out to them. .
Knox went on to explain how Kercher, the victim, was largely erased from the narrative, as was his killer Rudy Guede. She pointed to a recent New York Post headline on Guede’s release from prison that read “Man Who Killed Amanda Knox’s Roommate Freed on Community Service.”
“I want to stop here on this line: ‘the Amanda Knox saga’,” Knox wrote. “What does this refer to? Does this refer to something I did? No.
After all, as Knox points out, her story is not “that of an American studying abroad” involved in some sort of sensational crime “. This is an American woman not involved in a sensational crime, yet wrongly convicted. “
Representatives for Universal, which distributes the film, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Read Amanda Knox’s full essay here.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “Stillwater”.
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