What true-crime figures should sue over how they've been portrayed?
the true crime that's worth your time
First, all the caveats in the world: Neither Sarah nor I are lawyers, nothing in this or any issue of Best Evidence is intended as legal advice, and we agree that people should sue each other less, in general.
You probably guessed this might happen: Rachel DeLoache Williams, the Vanity Fair staffer and Anna Sorokin associate who was portrayed fairly unsympathetically in Netflix’s Inventing Anna, is suing the streaming company, the Hollywood Reporter announced Monday. Here’s a quote from her attorney, and, folks, I kind of see the point they’re making!
The reason why we have had to file this lawsuit is because Netflix used Rachel’s real name and biographical details, and made her out to be a horrible person, which she is not. The devastating damage to her reputation could have been avoided if only Netflix had used a fictitious name and different details. Why didn’t they do this for her, when they did for so many other characters in the Series? Perhaps the reason was that she had chosen to play for the other team, i.e., HBO.
As Williams’s recent Instagram posts are dominated by quotes critical of the series, this suit isn’t a shock, but the news, along with the Insider piece Sarah mentioned yesterday about the complaints from folks in docuseries The Tinder Swindler and Bad Vegan, prompted me to wonder who else out there just might have a possible case?
It’s obviously harder to prove malice (to prove defamation, you have to prove an alleged smear was done with ill intent) when we’re talking about documentary footage, but anyone who’s read an exposé on the practices of reality shows knows that editing can manufacture a number of ills. Dramatic adaptations seem to give folks a bit more of a foundation to build a case, or maybe not? What do you think? Who should hop on the horn with a lawyer, and who should let things slide? — EB