Amanda Knox has spoken out about Matt Damon‘s new movie Stillwater, slamming the film that is “inspired by” her life story. Knox published an editorial on her website calling out the film’s creators, as well as many media outlets, for profiting off of the experience that she lived through for the sake of the film. The 34-year-old journalist also criticized those involved for focusing solely on the sensational aspect of the story and diminishing the death of Meredith Kercher.
“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,” Knox wrote. “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.”
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Does my name belong to me? My face? What about my life? My story? Why does my name refer to events I had no hand in? I return to these questions because others continue to profit off my name, face, & story without my consent. Most recently, the film #STILLWATER.
/ a thread
— Amanda Knox (@amandaknox) July 29, 2021
In Stillwater, Damon plays Bill Baker, a blue-collar dad who “works to exonerate his estranged daughter of a murder she never committed.” The film also stars Abigail Breslin (Zombieland) as Damon’s on-screen daughter, Allison, who is incarcerated in France. French actress Camille Cottin (Killing Eve) appears as well, playing a single mother who helps Damon’s character as he fights to free Allison.
It’s very clear that the story in Stillwater borrows liberally from Knox’s experience, and she has made it clear that she was not involved with the whatsoever. “If you’re going to ‘leave the Amanda Knox case behind,’ and ‘fictionalize everything around it,’ maybe don’t use my name to promote it. You’re not leaving the Amanda Knox case behind very well if every single review mentions me,” she stated, noting that McCarthy had made comments about the plot of Stillwater being inspired by Knox’s experience.
“You’re not leaving the Amanda Knox case behind when my face appears on profiles and articles about the film,” she added. At this time, Neither Damon nor McCarthy appear to have issued a statement on Knox’s editorial. Stillwater is currently plying in theaters nationwide.
