Stillwater · John DeLorean · Cuba Gooding
Plus: When a cop union shut up
the true crime that's worth your time
How much was Stillwater inspired by Amanda Knox? That’s the question Vanity Fair asked last week of the latest movie from proud gay-slur* user Matt Damon. The answer, per director/co-writer Tom McCarthy, appears to be quite a bit. Here’s a snip:
The premise, Stillwater’s director and co-screenwriter Tom McCarthy tells Vanity Fair, was directly inspired by the Amanda Knox saga that erupted in Italy after Knox’s roommate was killed in Perugia in 2007. Knox, an American studying in Italy, was arrested as a suspect and imprisoned for four years. (In 2015, Knox was acquitted of the murder by the highest court in Italy.)
McCarthy says that like many around the globe, he was fascinated by the story. And the filmmaker—who would win an Oscar in 2016 for co-adapting TheBoston Globe’s real-life investigation into the Catholic church’s sexual abuse for Spotlight—couldn’t help but imagine how it would feel to be in Knox’s shoes.
“There were so many characters around the case that I really followed pretty closely,” McCarthy says. “But really the first thing that I took away from it was, what would that be like as an American student to go over [to Europe] for what should be one of the most exciting moments in a young-adult life and to find yourself in that tragedy? There were just so many layers to that story that kept anyone who was following pretty riveted…. Who are the people that are visiting [her], and what are those relationships? Like, what’s the story around the story?”
This was news to Knox, the pundit and podcaster said in a Medium post. Acquitted by Italy’s highest court after serving four years in prison for the death of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, Knox has presented a complicated face to the public. She’s divided public opinion with life events like a crowdfunded wedding, but it’s hard not to understand her palpable frustration and outrage at how Stillwater is being presented in the media. From her essay:
By fictionalizing away my innocence, my total lack of involvement, by erasing the role of the authorities in my wrongful conviction, McCarthy reinforces an image of me as a guilty and untrustworthy person. And with Matt Damon’s star power, both are sure to profit handsomely off of this fictionalization of “the Amanda Knox saga” that is sure to leave plenty of viewers wondering, “Maybe the real-life Amanda was involved somehow.”
Which brings me to my screenplay idea! It’s directly inspired by the life of Matt Damon. He’s an actor, celebrity, etc. Except I’m going to fictionalize everything around it, and the Damon-like character in my film is involved in a murder. He didn’t plunge the knife per se, but he’s definitely at fault somehow. His name is Damien Matthews, and he starred in the Jackson Burne spy films. He works with Tim McClatchy, who’s a Harvey Weinstein type. It’s loosely based on reality. Shouldn’t bother Matt or Tom, right?
I joke, but of course, I understand that Tom McCarthy and Matt Damon have no moral obligation to consult me when profiting by telling a story that distorts my reputation in negative ways. And I reiterate my offer to interview them on Labyrinths. I bet we could have a fascinating conversation about identity, and public perception, and who should get to exploit a name, face, and story that has entered the public imagination.
Legit lol at “Jackson Burne.” Well played, Ms. Knox, now I am imagining Damon saying “Jackson Burne” in the cornpone accent he employs in Stillwater’s trailer, above.
The thing I don’t get is why McCarthy and company had to bring Knox into the conversation at all! Reading coverage of the movie, the narrative clearly has little to do with the actual facts of the Kercher case. So why not play at coy, and say “we were inspired by a lot of things” OR EVEN call Knox when you’re writing the script to get some insight into her situation? That McCarthy didn’t do either smacks of an appropriative laziness, an assumption that all public stories are fair game.
And let’s be real: They kind of are! If Jennifer Lopez produced and starred in a movie about a food journalist with two dogs and a true-crime analysis Substack without my knowledge or involvement, I couldn’t do a damn thing, but it would seem pretty weird and shitty! There is something about how Stillwater’s promotions trade on a nonconsensual association with Knox that suggests a sense of entitlement around other peoples’ stories that I deeply dislike. But I’m willing to be told different, that’s what the comments are for, so go for it. — EB
*which, if you’re surprised, you’ve had six years to realize what a toxic bro he is, y’all.
A celebrity crime twofer: Two sort of weird headlines hit the last few days, regarding some high-profile entertainment biz cases. Let’s take a look…
A civil rape case against caught-on-tape creep Cuba Gooding Jr.is moving forward. An unnamed woman accused Gooding of a 2013 rape, Reuters reports, and U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty ruled in her favor after Gooding gave the suit the silent treatment. “Defendant has completely failed to engage with this case,” making his default “willful,” Crotty said in his ruling. Now we move in to the award phase of the case on Sept. 7, where lawyer Gloria Allred will argue that the victim is owed $6 million in damages.
R Kelly is afraid of homophobia. The Hollywood Reporter revealed last week that prosecutors now claim that alleged serial sexual assailant R. Kelly “had sexual contact with an underage boy in addition to girls.” The 17-year-old was an aspiring musician Kelly allegedly met at a McDonald’s, then “propositioned and had sexual contact with him” after asking the teen if “what he would do to make it in the music business.” According to TMZ, Kelly’s legal team doesn’t want these new claims to be entered into the record, because the juror selection forms for Kelly’s upcoming trial are “void of a single question about their opinions or feelings on same-sex relationships,” which means that folks with anti-gay agendas might be on the jury and rule against the singer on the basis of those bigoted beliefs. As opposed to asking that the court release the current jury and start over, Kelly’s team says that prosecutors should drop the dude stuff and focus on the female victims. — EB
Where did this DeLorean docuseries come from? Netflix, which knows me better than I know myself, served up a new show called Myth And Mogul: John DeLorean this weekend. It might be the jazziest-looking doc I’ve seen in ages, with footage that’s half later-seasons-of-Mad-Men and half Roger Moore-era James Bond.
The three-parter is essentially an upcycled product: most of its archival footage was shot by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus for their 1981 doc DeLorean but wasn’t used in the film and hasn’t been publicly released before now. Pundits on DeLorean’s rise, (coke) bust, and fall include folks like the late Gail Sheehy, Ralph Nader, and DeLorean’s impossibly glam former wife, Cristina Ferrare.
The series moves along well, and doesn’t get too bogged down in auto-world inside baseball — in other words, we get to the cocaine bust/Back to the Future car part of the yarn pretty fast. But if it did, I might not have gotten too mad, as the Pennebaker/Hegedus footage is just that gorgeous. But finally, there’s something deeply satisfying abut watching a guy like the DeLorean we’re presented with (insecure, craven, bit of an alleged grifter, selfish social climber, you get what I’m saying) spectacularly fail. That said, if you offered me a chance to drive a DeLorean, I’d do it in a heartbeat. If, like me, you enjoy the 1970s, cars, and failure, here’s a couple of hours I think you’ll dig. — EB
There’s a lot of coverage coming out of the investigation into the January 6 attempt to overthrow the U.S. government. You can make yourself ill trying to consume all of it, and I almost have (that could also be the nearly week-old fried rice I just ate). Of that wave of content, two stories have stood out for me, both on the Capitol police.
This Was the Biggest, Loudest Cop Union in America. Then Came Jan. 6. // I’m not completely sure if the narrative hews to the hed in this Daily Beast report, but it’s still an important read for anyone who’s marveled at the spin cops’ unions have given to every police shooting in decades. Loud about most high-profile issues facing law enforcement, the the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has been unusually low-key when it comes to defending the cops on the ground at the Capitol building.
Georgia cop turned criminal justice prof Kalfani Ture tells TDB that “Calling out Trump—or even going harder after the rank-and-file rioters who said they marched on his behalf—would be difficult for an organization that has closely aligned itself to him.”
How Ashli Babbitt went from Capitol rioter to Trump-embraced ‘martyr’ // This Washington Post piece is a lengthy and in-depth look at the mythology that’s surrounded Ashli Babbitt, the woman shot and killed by police as she allegedly stormed a barricade inside the Capitol.
Babbitt’s death has apparently become a speaking point for former President Trump, who told the paper via statement, “I want to know why is the person who shot Ashli Babbitt getting away with murder?” He’s just one of the multitude of far-right commentators who have latched onto Babbitt’s death at the hands of the police as a fundraising tool for the Republican party, as well as another false narrative claiming a complicated conspiracy within Democratic ranks. Probably makes sense to bookmark this one for copying-and-pasting into various distant relatives’ Facebook feeds. — EB
Wednesday on Best Evidence: What’s that sound? Is that Shattered Glass I hear?
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