Sunday, October 31, 2010

More Anger Toward Hayden Panettiere For Arch-Callousness Toward Meredith’s Family

Posted by Peter Quennell


Above: Another with the symptoms of a charming psychopath, explaining how Meredith was killed?

Panettiere is reported as refusing to mention Meredith by name. In line with the standing orders of PR campaign, she seemingly wants to disappear Meredith. Make her a non-person.

The anger toward Panttiere among those who knew Meredith or closely identify with her, as we do, is growing stronger by the day. Now there is a scathing commentary by Jenny McCartney on The Daily Telegraph’s website

With depressing inevitability, the cameras began rolling last week on a TV movie about Amanda Knox, the young, blonde American convicted in Italy for her role in the killing of a 21-year-old fellow student, Meredith Kercher, in 2007.

Hayden Panettiere, a rising star, is playing Knox. The actress described herself as “flattered” to be awarded the role, blithely adding: “It’s a really great story and a very controversial one.”

Both the comment, and the film, strike me as being in disgustingly bad taste. For it is not, of course, “a really great story”, but an intensely sad and very recent criminal case, in which an intelligent and beautiful British student was murdered.

The Kercher family, who demonstrated considerable dignity through a long and heavily sensationalised trial, must now be subjected to the additional pain of knowing that the circumstances of Meredith’s death are already being converted into entertainment.

Even Knox’s Italian lawyer, who is presently appealing against her conviction, has strongly denounced any such “exploitation of the situation”.

The truth is that the film’s backers glimpsed a case in which both the murderers and the victim were young and attractive, and ““ in their eagerness for a salaciously brutal storyline ““ abandoned all other considerations.

I don’t suppose the film industry ever had much of a conscience: the difference now is the confident assumption that the public doesn’t, either.

Click the Daily Telegraph link to read also the well-informed and very critical comments by commenters Jo Jones and Mutley.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 10/31/10 at 02:15 AM in The officially involved,  Victims family,  News media & movies,  Movies on case,  The wider contexts,  N America context

Tweet This Post


Comments

I don´t know whether Hayden Panatierre is callous, shallow or narcissistic but I can definitely say that she is naive to the extreme. She clearly has no idea who AK really is and I wonder why they have chosen her to portray her at all.

Posted by aethelred23 on 10/31/10 at 06:51 AM | #

From the pictures and stories we’re seeing coming out of this production, it looks like it’ll be a sleazy whitewash.

Knox and Sollecito and their murderous antics should not be a source of entertainment. This is disgusting.

Movies of this sort that are made without a firm grounding in the facts usually end up gathering dust on library shelves, unwatched and forgotten. Such was the fate of the movie made about the JonBenet Ramsey murder, because it took a decidedly unrealistic and biased perspective, in blaming the mother, who turned out to be totally innocent.

This movie, I predict, will be no different. It will be a flash-in-the-pan and then everyone will promptly forget about it.

I hope Ms. Panetierre receives better career advice as to her future projects.

Posted by Earthling on 10/31/10 at 08:28 AM | #

By Storm Roberts (Innai)

I think Jenny McCartney’s article is short, sharp and to the point.

Her recognition of Meredith’s family’s pain and the dignity they have shown during the long legal process alongside her comment regarding the views of Knox’s Italian legal team show that she has a heart and has looked at this project from more than one angle.  Two things that seem to be missing from many reports on this sad case.

I find Ms. McCartney’s last paragraph saddening because it rings so true.  It is important to take a stand against projects like this, projects profiting from turning real life events that caused real life pain to real people into entertainment for the masses. 

It seems to me that many people nowadays feel they have an inalienable right to know the minutae of other people’s lives, loves and tragedies.  I disagree.  Everyone has the right to privacy.

Posted by Nolongeramember on 10/31/10 at 11:55 AM | #

I think Panettiere’s (is that her real name?)currency will go down to nothing after this ‘movie’.

Perhaps she will never work again or be destined to low budget celebrity desert island or jungle shows.

Her attitude stinks and is certainly not doing her any favours at all.

Just one more loser to the ever growing list of suicide jockeys enchanted by the enormous black cloud of negativity that is Amanda Knox.

Posted by Black Dog on 11/01/10 at 09:25 AM | #
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.

Where next:

Click here to return to The Top Of The Front Page

Or to next entry For Sad Third Anniversary of Meredith’s Death, Your Suggestions For Music Videos That Resonate?

Or to previous entry Meredith’s Europe #3: The City Of Brussels Where She Was Eager To Start Work