Hayden Panettiere to play Amanda Knox in new US Film

The Heroes star will take to screens to play the convicted murderer in a made-for-TV movie next year.

Hayden Panettiere - Celebrity News - Maire Claire
Hayden Panettiere - Celebrity News - Maire Claire
(Image credit: Rex Features)

The Heroes star will take to screens to play the convicted murderer in a made-for-TV movie next year.

Heroes star Hayden Panettiere is set to play convicted murderer Amanda Knox in a made for TV movie, which will hit the US next year.

Hayden beat off stiff competition for a part in The Amanda Knox Story, and is said to have signed on the dotted line with America’s Lifetime network to star in the small screen flick.

Amanda Knox was jailed for 26 years in 2009, for the drug-fuelled sex murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy.

The sentence was given alongside her Italian former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, who was jailed for 25 years.

And network bosses say the true story about an '‘all-American’ girl at the centre of a murder involving sex and drugs,’ is perfect movie material.

The script is reportedly being penned by Wendy Battles, famous for writing episodes of CSI and Law and Order.

But a spokesman for the Knox family said they had no knowledge of the film, and are unhappy about any movie about their daughter being made.

Hayden Panettiere and Amanda Knox - Hayden Panettiere to play Amanda Knox in new US Film - Amanda Knox - Hayden Panettiere Amanda Knox - The Amanda Knox Story - Celebrity News - Marie Claire

‘I don’t see how they can make a film called The Amanda Knox Story when the story is really all about my daughter,’ said Knox’s mother, Edda. ‘It’s all very odd.’

‘It is inopportune as the trial is still on going with two further appeals,’ the family’s lawyer added. What are your thoughts on an Amanda Knox film? Is Hayden right for the role, or do you think it shouldn’t be made at all? Let us know in the comments box below.

CELEBRITY SCANDALS 2010

MORE CELEBRITY NEWS