Amanda Knox speaks on behalf of Vili Fualaau, the late Mary Kay Letourneau former student and ex-husband, who was offended when his scandal was described in “May December» without his involvement.
“It’s the law that really attracts me. The feeling that someone else's life, their mistakes, their trauma, their STORY are simply free because they made the news. Knox wrote about (formerly Twitter).
Knox, the former American exchange student who became the center of a sensational murder case in Italy, has long spoken out about the ethics of using true-crime stories as a source of entertainment. Her own story was depicted, without her consent, in the 2021 film “Still water», directed by Tom McCarthy and starring Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin.
Knox and her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were first arrested in Perugia, Italy, in 2007 after Meredith Kercher, Knox's 21-year-old British flatmate was found killed, half-undressed in a pool of blood, with multiple stab wounds. She had also been sexually assaulted. Knox and Sollecito were sentenced to 26 1/2 and 25 years in prison, respectively, in 2009, but were released after spending four years in prison when the verdict was overturned on appeal in 2011. Knox returned to the United States before until a new trial is ordered. then in 2014 returned to Italy, where both were found guilty again. This time, Knox was sentenced to 28 years.
But in 2015, judges of the Italian High Court overturned the second conviction and definitively acquitted Knox and Sollecito of murder. Another man, Rudy Guede, was ultimately convicted.
Knox wrote a think piece for the Atlantic in 2021, after the theatrical release of “Stillwater”, calling out McCarthy and Damon for making a film without his consent or knowledge. She criticized the two men for using her story and name to promote the film and said they were portraying the film's character “Amanda-style” as guilty. According to Knox, neither McCarthy nor Damon accepted his offer to discuss these “ethically complicated” issues.
“We could all learn something from asking tough questions about real events that we have the right to turn into content,” she continued on the social media feed on Friday. “And asking who has the most stake in the telling of a story. Asking what the costs are and who will bear them. As storytellers, we may legally be able to turn the lives of others into content without their consent, whether in a podcast or a film, but ethically…”
“These questions often arise with crime stories, which get a legal pass because they are considered “newsworthy.”
Knox admitted that she has yet to watch “May December” and would refuse to pass judgment on its merits as a film. “I am also not giving an opinion on Mary Kay Letourneau or Vili Fualaau. However you judge them morally, it doesn't matter.
“When someone is convicted of a crime, our criminal justice system punishes them,” she wrote. “This punishment does not include giving up his 'rights to life' over the Hollywood ecosystem. This could include a ban on (profiting from) this story.
Knox further argued that even criminals, in his opinion, should have the right to consult on how they are portrayed in a biopic. “And remember that in stories like this, even if one person is guilty of a crime, there are many other people involved in the story who may not have done anything wrong , but whose life was affected by the events. Shouldn’t they have a say in how they are portrayed in a film?