Dornhelm picks rookie for Knox flick role
Robert Dornhelm has hired a yet unknown actress to star as murder victim Meredith Kercher in an upcoming TV drama based on the life of convicted killer Amanda Knox, according to British media.Newspapers report that 26-year-old Cambridge University graduate Amanda Fernando Stevens has been assigned by the Austrian director to star as the Irish exchange student who was brutally killed by her flatmates in Perugia, Italy, three years ago.British media claim that the upcoming role will be Stevens first appearance in a major TV or cinema production. Reports have it Dornhelm decided to assign the rookie actress due to her resemblance to Kercher.”The Amanda Knox Story”, a TV drama currently being filmed in Italy by Dornhelm who created acclaimed 2001 series “Anne Frank: The Whole Story”, will be screened in the United States in March. Dornhelm, however, recently revealed in an interview that American television network Lifetime had sold the rights “all over the world”.Speaking about the films main character, the Romanian-born moviemaker said: “The life of Amanda Knox is a love story gone wrong.”The legal team of Knox, from Seattle, Washington, recently appealed against the 26-year jail term she was given for the murder. Her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and their mate Rudy Guede were given prison terms of 26 years and 30 years respectively for their part in the crime.”Heroes” star Hayden Panettiere will star as Knox who has been nicknamed “Foxy Knoxy” by some dailies in Dornhelms film. The Austrians movie is set to compete with another film on the same issue directed by English director Michael Winterbottom.Dornhelm was forced to relocate the production to the Italian capital Rome after Perugia decision-makers refused to give permission for shooting the film in the city.