Locals of an Italian city are furious that Hulu's controversial Amanda Knox drama is filming in their region, claiming the upcoming TV show will bring fresh and unwanted attention to the fact that British student Meredith Kercher was murdered there in 2007.
Production for Blue Moon began last week in Perugia, a medieval city about two hours northeast of Rome. Starring Tell Me Lies star Grace Van Patten, the eight-episode series is “based on the true story of how Knox was wrongfully convicted for the murder of her roommate and her 16-year odyssey to set herself free,” according to Hulu's official synopsis.
Twenty-one-year-old Kercher had been studying abroad in Perugia when she was killed. Her body was found partially undressed with multiple stab wounds. Knox and her then-Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were convicted for Kercher's murder and served four years in prison before their release in 2011 after substantial flaws were found in police's investigation. They were both definitively acquitted in 2015. Rudy Guede was convicted of Kercher's murder in 2008, and he was released from prison in 2021 after serving 13 years of a 16-year sentence.
Now, nearly two decades after the international scandal, locals are concerned the series will bring new, unwanted attention to their city. “For too long, Perugia was sadly famous in the world as the city of Meredith Kercher's murder,” former Perugia councilor Margherita Scoccia said on Facebook. “Is it right that our community is associated with such a terrible crime again?” Residents also hung banners around the city that read “Respect for Meredith” or “Respect for Meredith.”
The outcry prompted an apology and explanation from Perugia mayor Vittoria Ferdinandi, who said she believed allowing the production to film in the city would allow the community to have more “control” and authorization over “every scene” filmed there.
“We could not have authorized the filming of five scenes in Perugia,” Ferdinandi said in an open letter, which was published in regional Italian newspapers. “But they would have been filmed in any other town in our region… We believed that allowing [the scenes] to be filmed here would provide us an element of greater guarantee and control because — as we requested — we are able to view and authorize every scene.”
Knox and Monica Lewinsky, among others, are executive producers on the project, as well as This Is Us' KJ Steinberg, who also serves as the series creator.
Last week, Kercher's sister addressed the series, saying she found it “difficult to understand” what purpose the show would serve. “Meredith will always be remembered for her own fight for life, and yet in her absence, her love and personality continues to shine,” Stephanie Kercher said in a statement. “We will forever feel this indescribable void but we live by Meredith's standards with dignity.”
