Amanda Knox Felt Ill When She Saw Herself Portrayed in New Movie
Knox was surprised to see movie trailer on an Italian newscast.
PERUGIA, Italy Feb. 7, 2011— -- Amanda Knox was shocked and hyperventilating when she saw a TV newscast in her Italian prison cell this weekend about Hayden Panetierre playing her in the Lifetime TV movie "Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy."
The news report included disturbing clips from a movie trailer for the film, which includes a gritty portrayal of the murder of Knox's British roommate Meredith Kercher as well as sex scenes.
Knox's stepfather Chris Mellas told ABC News that in her weekly phone call home, Knox was emotional and said, "I was physically ill when I saw the images. I thought I was going to throw up."
Knox, who was 20 at the time of the murder, explained how strange it was to see a "girl who looked like her, dressed like her, playing her life," the stepfather said.
Knox, who is now 23, fought back tears during the phone call, explaining her frustration with having no control over her life and how her life is being portrayed. Her family said she is not aware of the magnitude of the press surrounding her life, and that she avoids watching television and readings newspapers.
Knox's lawyers faxed, emailed and couriered Lifetime TV a formal complaint on Feb. 3. If Lifetime doesn't respond by Feb. 10, Knox's lawyers will take legal action, the complaint states.
The family of Amanda Knox tried to get Panettiere to meet with the imprisoned American before starring in the new Lifetime movie.
A trailer and images from a press screener for the Lifetime channel movie, which airs Feb. 21, debuted on the Internet this week and has upset both Knox's family as well as the family of Meredith Kercher, who Knox was convicted of killing on Nov. 1, 2007.
Video from the movie trailer indicates there are graphic scenes in the movie. One quick segment shows Kercher stripped down to her bra, pinned to the floor and screaming as she is groped by the men playing Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede, two men convicted along with Knox in the killing.
The trailer shows Knox, portrayed by Panettiere, in a steamy bed scene with Sollecito. At one point the Italian prosecutor states ominously, "Under the angel face, she is capable of anything."
Amanda Knox's stepfather, who visited with her in her Italian prison last week, said the family objects to the portrayal of Amanda in the movie.
"We, quite some time back, asked Hayden to visit Amanda, but they never got back to us after several conversations," Mellas said.
Mellas told "Good Morning America" today, "This thing with Lifetime, I think, is them doing nothing more than trying to make a buck. And it's disgusting. It's not appropriate to profit off other people's pain."
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