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When film crews arrived in the small Italian city of Perugia to film the newest take on the Amanda Knox saga, the reaction to their arrival was undeniable.
They were met with the sight of “Rispetto per Meredith” (respect for Meredith) emblazoned across a bedsheet hanging from one local’s balcony.
The banner, of course, referred to Meredith Kercher. The 21-year-old British exchange student was brutally murdered in 2007 inside the Perugia apartment she shared with American Amanda.
It was a crime that Amanda, then 22, was twice convicted of, along with her boyfriend at the time, Italian Raffaele Sollecito.
The pair served four years in jail and were ultimately acquitted in 2015 after “stunning flaws” were found in the initial police investigation into them.
So, in November 2024, when production of the TV series The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox began in Perugia, locals were outraged.
Is Amanda Knox the movie based on a true story?
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is inspired by the true story of the murder of her roommate.
Amanda is a co-producer on the TV series, alongside Monica Lewinsky.
Walter Cardinali, a Perugino hotelier who made the “Rispetto per Meredith” banner, said he was angry that Meredith was being forgotten.
“Perugia was unable to defend Meredith, but we can defend her memory,” Walter told The Times.
Fellow resident, Angelo Messino, also said: “I don’t like them filming here. It’s time she [Amanda] shut up.” Another added, “It just brings back the horrible past. It’s too macabre.”
After Meredith’s murder, local universities saw a decline in enrolments, and the economy suffered due to a lack of tourists.
Meredith Kercher’s family reacts
Meredith’s family has also slammed the new series for its “lack of sensitivity”.
“Knox is only interested in the profits she continues to make from an affair on which she should be silent,” the Kercher family’s lawyer, Francesco Maresca, said in a statement.
“She continues to make money from it. This time, she has no qualms about doing it in Perugia, one of the least appropriate places to return to 17 years after Meredith’s death.
“It seems that Knox does not want people to forget about this story and does all she can to keep it alive.”
Since her release, Amanda reportedly earned nearly $6 million for her memoir and participated in a 2016 Netflix documentary about the case. She has also been the subject of numerous books and films.
Meredith’s killer was eventually identified as Rudy Guede, after his DNA was found on her body. He was released from prison in 2021 after serving 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
Away from the cameras, Amanda, now 38, spends her time advocating for criminal justice reforms and campaigns against wrongful convictions. She is married with two kids.
