As Amanda Knox waits to appeal her second conviction for murder in Italy, production of a new feature film that is loosely based on her life is moving forward.
There is no theatrical release date yet for "The Face of An Angel," and the film doesn't use the real names of those involved in the Knox case, but the screenplay is an adaptation of Barbie Latza Nadeau's book, "Angel Face: Sex, Murder and the Inside Story of Amanda Knox."
A 30-second trailer released Tuesday shows the story is centered around the 2007 murder of a British student and the initial convictions of an American student and her boyfriend for the crime. It stars Kate Beckinsale as a journalist investigating the Knox character, and Daniel Bruhl as a filmmaker planning a movie about the media circus surrounding the case.
Although the murder is the plot's springboard, the movie focuses on Beckinsale and Bruhl's characters, and society's fascination with violence. Cara Delevingne plays a British student with whom Bruhl's character becomes romantically involved.
Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted in 2009 of the murder of Knox's flatmate, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. Knox and Sollecito were freed in 2011 after being cleared by a higher court. On January 30, Knox's and Sollecito's original convictions were reinstated by a court in Florence. Their lawyers have said they will appeal to Italy's highest court.
Directed by British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, the film is in post-production and West End Films is looking for a distributor at the European Film Market in Berlin. It is not the first film produced about the globally sensational case. "Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy" aired on Lifetime in 2011 starring Hayden Panettiere as Knox. Knox's memoir "Waiting to be Heard" was published last year.