With the infamous, long-running case of the West Memphis Three coming to an end (not a particularly satisfying end, but it’s a conclusion nonetheless), it’s not that susprising it’s been revealed that a film about them is in the works. Deadline reports that Atom Egoyan is planning to shoot a movie about the case called Devil’s Knot, with filming expected to start in the spring.
Scott Derrickson and Paul Boardman, the team behind The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, wrote the script based on Mara Leveritts 2003 book Devils Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three, although Egoyan has been working with Boardman for the last few weeks to rewrite the screenplay, presumably taking into account the latest developments.
In case you don’t know, the West Memphis 3 are a trio of young men who were convicted on the murder of three young boys in Arkansas in the mid 90s. They became a cause celebre, with accusations of the investigation being bungled and the men being railroaded. The youths were accused of murdering the boys in a Satanic ritual, with many supecting they had just been caught up in a panic over Satanism that was sweeping the US (and other parts of the world) at the time, with the evidence made to fit what the prosecutors wanted it to, rather than what it did. After years of campaigning, high-profile documentaries (particularly Paradise Lost and its sequel, which had a huge impact on the case), the three men were finally released last week.
They weren’t exonerated though, which is still a bone of contention for many, but were allowed to enter ‘no contest’ pleas, which allows them to maintain their innocence, but results in them being sentenced to time served and 10 years suspended. This is very unsatisfactory to many, as it means officially the authorities can still claim they got their men, even though many believe they know exactly who did it and that they’ve completely gotten away with it. The three meanwhile men had 18 years of their lives taken from them, and can’t even seek compensation for it.
Interestingly, it’s been revealed since the release that one of the main people funding the investigations that were trying to free the men was Peter Jackson, who was moved to act after seeing what he saw as a clear miscarriage of justice after watching Paradise Lost.
Egoyan would seem a good person to handle a film about the West Memphis Three, as the likes of The Sweet Hereafter showed he can handle a community dealing with tragedy well. Hopefully he’ll be able to show exactly how and why something like this could happen, where it seems people would prefer innocent people to go to jail if they fit their idea of what child killers would be like, rather than the actual murderer(s), who doesn’t the stereotype.