Fact and Fiction in Amanda Knox Movie

Feb. 22, 2011— -- The directors of the Lifetime channel's Amanda Knox movie may have employed some artistic license, but some people might call them whoppers.

Billed as "based on a true story," the film which aired Monday night, drew the ire of the Knox family, who lashed out at Lifetime in a statement released today for what they see as "a selfish, profit-making motive behind their decision... The story they have told is riddled with a multitude of inaccuracies and we are deeply upset at its airing."

The film, "Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy," also upset the family of the murder victim, Meredith Kercher, and Knox's ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who was convicted of murder along with Knox.

The lawyer for Meredith Kercher's family, Francesco Maresca called the movie "inopportune and inappropriate."

"Because the appeal trial is ongoing, and because Meredith's family has expressed its desire more than once to be allowed to remember her far from the media," Maresca said.

Sollecito's lawyer, Luca Maori, told Italian news agency ANSA today that his client was "disgusted" after having seen parts of the Lifetime movie in his prison cell.

Sollecito's lawyers have also sent warnings to Lifetime in recent days. "If someone has acted wrongly, now they will pay because the film offended the memory of the victim and offers an incorrect reconstruction of events," Maori told ANSA.

Filmmakers blended the facts of the case, and actual statements from Knox and other trial testimony, with some new interpretations of the events in the hillside cottage three years ago that led to Kercher's death and Knox and Sollecito's conviction. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison while Sollecito got 25 years.

At least 15 scenes or lines are false or fabricated. Here's a sample:

Movie: The movie shows Hayden Panetierre, who plays Knox's character, dressing in a sexually suggestive manner, waving and smiling to photographers on a red carpet leading into the court house.Fact: Knox did not dress provocatively or smile and wave as if walking a Hollywood movie premiere line. There is no red carpet leading into the court house in Perugia, and Knox was brought through a back entrance and directly into the courtroom, often avoiding much of the press.