The West Memphis Three case was the subject of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s much-lauded Paradise Lost trilogy (1996, 2000, 2011), as well as Amy Berg’s 2012 West of Memphis. Each documentary chronicled the ongoing evolution of a uniquely American tragedy: the wrongful convictions of three teenage outcasts in the grotesque slayings of three eight-year-olds in West Memphis, Ark on May 5th, 1993. In Devil’s Knot, Canadian director Atom Egoyan’s fictionalized retelling of the events, the teenagers who stand accused — Jason Baldwin (Seth Meriwether), Damien Echols (James Hamrick), and Jessie Misskelley Jr. (Kris Higgins) — are clearly railroaded by local law […]
by Brandon Harris on May 9, 2014“In Production” is a regular column which focuses on notable independent films that are currently shooting. After four documentaries (three of which were produced by HBO, the other by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh), the story of the West Memphis Three gets the narrative treatment courtesy of director Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter). Devil’s Knot focuses on three young men, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr. who were wrongfully accused of murdering three children as part of a satanic ritual. Appearing in the lead roles are newcomer James Hamrick (a Wesleyan drama student) as Echols, Seth Meriwether (Trouble with the Curve) as […]
by Byron Camacho on Aug 13, 2012