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Is 'Stillwater' based on Amanda Knox's story? Journalist slams the film in an essay

In a long Twitter thread and a Medium essay, Amanda Knox slammed 'Stillwater's' director for associating her name to the project and the media for calling it 'the Amanda Knox Saga'

Amanda Knox is in the news for speaking out against the new Matt Demon starter film, 'Stillwater'. In a long Twitter thread and a Medium essay, Knox slammed the film's director for associating her name to the project and the media for calling it 'the Amanda Knox Saga'. The film is allegedly inspired by the story of Amanda Knox who was wrongfully convicted of her roommate, Meredith Kercher's murder and was acquitted later.

Amanda Knox started off by saying, "Does my name belong to me? Does my face? What about my life? My story? Why is my name used to refer to events I had no hand in?" She added, "I return to these questions because others continue to profit off my name, face, and story without my consent. Most recently, the film 'Stillwater'." Written and directed by Tom McCarthy, 'Stillwater' released today, July 30, 2021.

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Further in her essay, Amanda spoke of the film and said, "This new film by director Tom McCarthy, starring Matt Damon, is “loosely based” or “directly inspired by” the “Amanda Knox saga,” as Vanity Fair put it in a for-profit article promoting a for-profit film, neither of which I am affiliated with. I want to pause right here on that phrase: “the Amanda Knox saga.” What does that refer to? Does it refer to anything I did? No. It refers to the events that resulted from the murder of Meredith Kercher by a burglar named Rudy Guede. It refers to the shoddy police work, prosecutorial tunnel vision, and refusal to admit their mistakes that led the Italian authorities to wrongfully convict me, twice."

Speaking of her '8-year-long ordeal', Amanda further said, "In those four years of wrongful imprisonment and 8 years of trial, I had near-zero agency. Everyone else in that “saga” had more influence over the course of events than I did. The erroneous focus on me by the Italian authorities led to an erroneous focus on me by the press, which shaped how I was presented to the world. In prison, I had no control over my public image, no voice in my story." She added, "This focus on me led many to complain that Meredith had been forgotten. But of course, who did they blame for that? Not the Italian authorities. Not the press. Me! Somehow it was my fault that the police and media focused on me at Meredith’s expense. The result of this is that 15 years later, my name is the name associated with this tragic series of events, of which I had zero impact on."

'Stillwater' is the story of Bill Baker (played by Matt Damon), an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma. He travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Fighting the obstacles of language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill makes it his mission to prove the innocence of his daughter (played by Abigail Breslin).

'Everyone should read Amanda Knox’s thread'

Pople supported Amanda Knox for putting forward her views. One user said, "I suggest everyone one involved with this movie read Amanda Knox’s thread. Not only is it a gross abuse of her story under the guise of a *barely* fictionalized version, but the gross misogyny at the base of the story is appalling." Another commented, "OMG I thought the film #Stillwater was about something entirely different than the Amanda Knox story -- so glad I read her thread. Sure shows film previews can be very inaccurate. Stillwater = NOPE." One tweet read, "Consider not using "the Amanda Knox saga" in your STILLWATER review not just because it does her a disservice, but also because it's hacky." Another user tweeted, "it's really good to see people taking Amanda Knox's self-defense and her experience seriously, rather than continuing to indulge a depraved passion for wildly speculative gossip at the expense of an actual person."