TV Talk: ‘Twisted Tale’ revisits Amanda Knox story from all angles

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

Hulu’s “Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox,” streaming its first two episodes Wednesday, upends expectations for a true crime miniseries with an embrace of magical realism that’s hinted at in the show’s title.

Knox, who executive produces the series and co-wrote the finale with showrunner K.J. Steinberg (“This Is Us”), watched the magical realism-infused French film “Amelie” the night her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, was murdered in an apartment Knox, an American, shared with her while studying abroad in Italy.

Steinberg runs with the “Amelie” homage in the first and last episodes, especially, from applauding stuffed animals to a camera that rotates 360 degrees.

However, in between, “Twisted Tale” becomes more serious as it explores the injustices that befall all the primary characters, not just Knox, but also the prosecutor, Mignini (Francesco Acquaroli), who sends Knox to prison. One whole episode explores Mignini’s background to explain (but not excuse) his decision to prosecute Knox.

In “Twisted Tale,” Italian prosecutors are quick to pin the crime on Knox. The series suggests cultural misunderstandings colored the authorities’ interpretation of Knox’s behavior and words. (The Italians mistake a text message Knox sent her boss, “See ya later,” to mean Knox and the boss planned to meet later when it was just a colloquial sign-off.)

At eight hours, “Twisted Tale” seems too long, especially when the novelty of magical realism disappears for large stretches of the series.

If some of the middle episodes feel more familiar to true crime aficionados — the interrogation, the trial, etc. — there’s a unique wrap-around story that begins in the first episode and returns in the last episode. It depicts Knox returning to Italy in 2022 and meeting with Mignini, an event brokered by a friendly priest. This happened in real life.

The grace Knox gives to the man she calls “my prosecutor” is quite extraordinary, particularly in an era of division where villainization of opponents is the easy, most common path.

In a Zoom interview last month, Knox said although her story has been told before in filmed form, this is the first scripted take she’s been involved in.

“We’re not just telling a tragic story we would never wish upon another person, but also one that is a human story that really seeks to humanize everyone involved, to understand how these things happen,” Knox said. “It’s also a story of a person regaining a sense of agency and identity in their life. It’s not just the story of a bad thing that happened to me. It’s the story of my life journey and coming to terms with all the facts in a relatable, universal way. I think people will be surprised by how much heart is in the story.”

“Twisted Tale” came about at the suggestion of Monica Lewinsky, who befriended Knox in 2017 with the two bonding over their shared traumatic experiences in the court of public opinion.

“When you talk about Amanda Knox’s imprisonment, it stretches far beyond the bars of Capanne (prison) into the present day,” Steinberg said, “which is why I thought the story is so unbelievably relevant. Here are these two resilient, brilliant women who share an experience most of us could never fathom, which is being ripped apart by society and our media consumptive culture.”

Knox is quick to note “Twisted Tale” is a dramatization, not a documentary (there have already been several of those). This required Knox and Steinberg to create scenes conveying the essence of what was going on even if those scenes never occurred in real life.

The film does not shy away from showing choices Knox made that created suspicion in the minds of Italian police, including doing cartwheels inside the police station after Kercher’s murder.

“I remember having this conversation with Monica early on, talking about how we were gonna have to show the context for these embarrassing decisions that I made at the time,” Knox said. “I give my 20-year-old, oblivious self a lot of grace, and I am not embarrassed by this show or this representation of me. I look back on 20-year-old me and wish that there was someone there to protect her.”

Steinberg said she hopes viewers will come away from watching “Twisted Tale” questioning their certainty on this case and maybe even in general.

“I think certainty can be a very dangerous thing,” Steinberg said. “Certainty is different than truth. Our thematic North Star for this series was (the organizing principle of) the anatomy of bias, which explores the dangers of false belief, the power of false belief. We wanted to examine how it takes hold of even the best of people, even the most thoughtful of people and intelligent of people and creates fertile soil for incredible mistakes and acts of injustice that result in trauma whose echoes are loud and long and still felt. … I hope people come away mindful and thoughtful about what they thought they knew before this series, not just about Amanda, but about every person who participated in the ecosystem of this story.”