Amanda Knox, the American former exchange student once wrongly accused of murdering her British flatmate in Perugia, is revisiting her story in a new television miniseries.
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox will debut Aug. 20 on Hulu and on Disney+ in Italy. The series is based on Knox’s 2013 memoir, Waiting to be Heard: A Memoir by Amanda Knox.
Grace Van Patten, known for Nine Perfect Strangers and Tell Me Lies, stars as Knox. Sharon Horgan plays Knox’s mother, Edda Mellas, while John Hoogenakker portrays her father, Kurt Knox. Francesco Acquaroli plays Giuliano Mignini, the Perugia prosecutor, Giuseppe De Domenico appears as Raffaele Sollecito, Knox’s then-boyfriend, and Roberta Mattei takes the role of Monica Napoleoni, head of the city’s homicide division.
Van Patten said in a press conference that her research into Knox’s case left her surprised at what she had not previously known.
“I thought I knew more than I actually did,” Van Patten said. “But the more I researched, watched, read, and especially talked to her, I couldn’t believe how much I didn’t know. It was really amazing, but also heartbreaking and frustrating to learn all the things you don’t know.”
Van Patten said the project offered Knox a chance to reclaim her narrative.
“Everyone thinks they’re doing the right thing, but seeing how it all goes wrong … that’s the heartbreaking part,” she said. “Everyone knows what happened, but no one knows how she felt.”
The actress said she was struck by Knox’s ability to forgive even those who tried to put her in prison.
“It was a really beautiful thing,” Van Patten said. “Maybe that’s why she was able to move on, not hold grudges, and accept that everyone was doing their job.”
The series is produced by 20th Television in association with The Littlefield Company. Creator and executive producer KJ Steinberg is joined by Warren Littlefield, Lisa Harrison, Ann Johnson and Graham Littlefield. Additional executive producers include Monica Lewinsky of Alt Ending Productions, Knox and her husband, Chris Robinson, through Knox Robinson Productions, and Michael Uppendahl, who also directs.
Van Patten said she admired Lewinsky’s involvement, drawing parallels between Knox and Lewinsky’s experiences with media scrutiny.
“Both Monica and Amanda were a great inspiration to me,” she said. “They emerged from being scrutinized and slandered, yet they’re not afraid of being part of the media system. They’re truly strong, and I’m sorry they went through what they did at such a young age.”
Knox and Sollecito were initially convicted in the 2007 killing of Meredith Kercher, a British exchange student from London. They spent several years in Italian prisons before Italy’s high court overturned their convictions, declaring them unsafe.
Rudy Guede, an Ivorian man, served a 16-year sentence for Kercher’s murder, committed Nov. 1-2, 2007.
Now 38, Knox is a journalist, author and activist campaigning against wrongful convictions and judicial malpractice.
