The “twisted tale” of Amanda Knox – the American student wrongfully jailed in Italy for the 2007 murder of her roommate – has been turned into a mini-series co-produced by Monica Lewinsky.
The eight-part dramatisation is based on Knox’s bestselling book Waiting to be Heard: A Memoir and started screening this week on Disney+ and US streaming service Hulu.
Hulu’s promo says The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox follows her “relentless fight to prove her innocence and reclaim her freedom, and examines why authorities and the world stood so firmly in judgment”, with early reviews suggesting it is compelling viewing.
The then 20-year-old American was studying in Perugia, Italy, in 2007 when her friend and flatmate, British student Meredith Kercher, was killed. The case made international headlines, with Knox convicted of murder two years later, alongside her boyfriend and a local burglar, despite protesting her innocence.
She spent four years in jail before her conviction was quashed and she was able to return home to America, but faced a further ordeal when Italy’s highest court later annulled the acquittal. Knox was finally exonerated in 2015.
American actress Grace Van Patten (Nine Perfect Strangers, Tell Me Lies) plays Knox in the mini-series, which was created by KJ Steinberg (This Is Us, Gossip Girl) and executive-produced by Knox herself, alongside Monica Lewinsky and Warren Littlefield (The Handmaid’s Tale).
Lewinsky, who knows better than most what it is like to be at the centre of a media maelstrom, previously co-produced the 2021 mini-series Impeachment: American Crime Story, about her affair with then US president Bill Clinton.
During her ordeal, Knox faced not only questionable conduct by police interrogators, but also a trial by media during which tabloids nicknamed her “Foxy Knoxy” and mined all the details of her private life.
Speaking at a Criminal Justice Festival in Modena 2019, she broke down while telling how her innocence had not saved her.
“I was innocent. But the rest of the world had decided I was guilty,” Knox said.
She said she was depicted “on the global scene as cunning, psychopath, drugged, whore”, with the media inventing a “false and baseless story, which fuelled people’s fantasies”.
Van Patten told Forbes she had many conversations with Knox to prepare for her role in the new mini-series.
“There was constant communication, and I was able to ask her as many questions as I possibly could,” Van Patten said.
“She was extremely open with me, with anything I wanted to know about, which was so amazing and helpful because my only job was to help people understand her and who she was as a human, not just as a picture on the news with a headline above her face.”
The Hollywood Reporter describes The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox as “a heartbreaking, infuriating, unsparing account of the truth”, while The Guardian dubs it “shockingly intense TV”. However, the BBC’s critic argues it is a “misguided” dramatisation that marginalises Kercher’s death.
Kercher’s family was apparently not involved in the making of the drama, and unhappy to see the case revisited in such a way.
“Our family has been through so much and it is difficult to understand how this serves any purpose,” her sister Stephanie told The Guardian when the series was announced last year.
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