Devil’s Knot, the upcoming biopic about the West Memphis 3, has found a distributor. Image Entertainment has acquired the movie and will release it in the spring of 2014. The movie will star Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth, Amy Ryan and Stephen Moyer and is directed by Atom Egoyan (Chloe).
For those unfamiliar with the story, the West Memphis 3 referred to three teenagers (Damien Echols, Jesse Misskelley Jr, and Jason Baldwin) who were found guilty of the murder of three eight year old boys in Memphis back in 1993. There was no conclusive evidence and they were found guilty because they were into the cult and the conservative community immediately believed that made them murderers.
They developed a huge support system with people like Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Metallica, Peter Jackson and more. There was already a wonderful documentary trilogy about the case called Paradise Lost that tracked everything from the original conviction to the release. Peter Jackson also funded his own documentary called West of Memphis which came out in 2012.
Whether or not they killed the boys remains unknown, but they were finally released from prison in 2011. They won the right to a new trial, but the prosecution was understandably scared to go to court again and end up with egg on their faces. They agreed to let the three out of prison if they would agree to plead no contest so the state could maintain that they felt the men were guilty despite still lacking evidence.
The new movie, Devil’s Knot, is the first biopic made of the case and is based on the Mara Leveritt book Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. Have you seen either of the documentaries? Do you think the new biopic will do the case justice? Chime in below.
Source: Deadline
