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Amanda Knox doubles down on Matt Damon Stillwater criticism and accuses him of ‘gross negligence’

Actor’s new film is inspired by the story of Knox’s wrongful murder conviction

Ellie Harrison
Thursday 05 August 2021 10:04 BST
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Stillwater trailer

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Amanda Knox has doubled down on her criticism of Matt Damon and director Tom McCarthy for their new film Stillwater, which she claims has seen them “profit” from her wrongful murder conviction.

Damon stars in the new movie – made by Spotlight filmmaker McCarthy – as a father who travels to France to help exonerate his daughter, who is in prison for a murder she claims she didn’t commit. The story is partially inspired by what has been described by press as “the Amanda Knox saga”.

Knox, who was acquitted in the case of Meredith Kercher’s murder in 2007, condemned the film in a lengthy Twitter thread that went viral last week.

Now, in a new interview with Variety, she made calls for Damon and McCarthy to have a conversation with her. She asked them to explain why they felt they had the right to “exploit” her story and – according to her – perpetuate the idea that she was involved in Kercher’s death. Knox was wrongfully imprisoned for four years and Rudy Guede was convicted of killing the British student.

She said: “Matt Damon and the director can walk away with a great story in their pocket, but meanwhile, I’m still living with the consequences of people thinking that I am somehow involved in this crime that I am not involved in.”

Knox added: “I’m very open about how I’ve continually felt exploited by people who are not allowing me to be a voice in my own narrative. And because I have been so vocal about that, I find it to be a kind of gross negligence of these filmmakers to not take note of that in their own development of this project, and in their promotion of this project, constantly bringing me into the equation as this idea of me, as opposed to as the real person.”

Knox said she “would love to have a conversation with Matt Damon and Tom McCarthy” about “why it never occurred to them to reach out to me to, at the very least, inform me that something was going to be dredging up an ongoing trauma that I have”.

The Independent has contacted eOne as well as Damon and McCarthy for comment.

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