The dramatic thriller, “Face of an Angel,” a fictional adaptation of the Amanda Knox case, has just finished production. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, “Face of an Angel” stars Daniel Bruhl, Kate Beckinsale and Cara Delevingne. The film was inspired by the non-fiction book, “Angel Face: Sex, Murder, and the Inside Story of Amanda Knox” by American journalist and author Barbie Latza Nadeau. The movie’s basic plot shares many similarities with Knox’s case as shown by the synopsis, provided by Variety:

The murder of a British student in Tuscany leads to the trial and conviction of her American flat mate and Italian boyfriend in controversial circumstances.

The public interest around the case attracts once successful, but now struggling filmmaker Thomas (Bruhl), to be commissioned to write a film, “The Face of an Angel,” based on a book by Simone Ford (Beckinsale), an American journalist who covered the case. From Rome they head to Siena to research the film.

Thomas has also recently separated from his wife in a bitter divorce and left his 9-year-old daughter in Los Angeles. As his life unravels, he becomes increasingly disturbed by the dark medieval atmosphere surrounding the case and begins to fall into his own personal hell.

Just as Thomas is about to hit rock bottom, he meets British student Melanie (Delevingne), with whom he begins an innocent relationship. This is a beautiful, unrequited love where Melanie provides solace to him and acts as a guide to his own heart. Thomas starts to question what is more important to him, solving an unsolvable crime and writing the film, or returning back to the daughter he has left behind.

Variety was given exclusive access to a clip from the promo reel, the first preview of the movie released publicly. WestEnd Films, a sales and feature film financing company based in London, will show the promo reel to buyers at the European Film Market, taking place in Berlin from February 6-14.

Knox’s trial captivated a global audience with the amount of media frenzy over the case. Reporters had a field day with the case, painting Knox as a “femme fatale” and stamping a guilty label on her. She was charged with the murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, after Kercher was found in the apartment they shared in November 2007. Also charged with the murder were Knox’s Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and a man named Rudy Hermann Guede. Guede was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison, while Knox and Sollecito were tried together. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito 25 years, but their convictions were later appealed in 2011.

In March 2013, Italy’s highest criminal court, the Court of Cassation in Rome, reversed the appeal and began a retrial for Knox and Sollecito. Knox and Sollecito once again made headlines when on January 30, the duo was convicted for a second time, with Knox being sentenced to 28 ½ years and Sollecito again sentenced to 25 years.

While there is no known release date for the movie, the Amanda Knox case rages on as Knox and Sollecito plan to appeal, demonstrating that their legal turmoil is not quite done captivating audiences across the world.

About The Author

Corlyn Voorhees is a Blast Correspondent and a Northeastern University journalism student

Leave a Reply