News just in... Lifetime's controversial movie Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer will be airing in South Africa this month, on Saturday, 18 November 2017 at 20h00.
A week after the American premiere and just over a month after the controversy surrounding it first erupted.
The made-for-TV movie tells the story of Reeva Steenkamp's murder, including the events that led up to her death as well as Oscar's court case, and neither the Steenkamp nor Pistorius families have been involved in any aspect of the film.
As you probably know, this is what created the controversy when the trailer for the film was first released in early October this year. Both families expressed their outrage at the fact that they hadn't been consulted and the Pistorius family threatened legal action against Lifetime.
A+E Networks responded on behalf of Lifetime with the following statement:
A+E Networks Africa, which includes Lifetime Africa in its channel portfolio, would like to be transparent about the fact that the movie has not been seen or endorsed by the families of either Reeva Steenkamp or Oscar Pistorius.
A+E Networks has noted the families’ statements in the media reports. We have not yet received any correspondence from either family’s lawyers.
It is anticipated that the movie will elicit mixed reactions in South Africa due to the sensitive nature of the high profile court case which was widely followed, when much of it was televised.
Flash forward to Now and Lifetime has confirmed the broadcast date, with a mention of the film's "perspective":
The made-for-television movie, written by Amber Benson and co-produced by ThinkFactory Media, is based on a true story and public records.
The families of Oscar and Reeva did not participate in the making of this movie. The movie is produced by Eric Tomosunas and Swirl Films for Thinkfactory Media and executive produced by Leslie Greif. Norman Stone directs it.
In true made-for-TV-movie-style, the movie stars Andreas Damm as Oscar. Yes,
the Andreas, hot off the cinema circuit.
NOT.
Turns out Andreas is a South African actor who moved to America in 2005 to study at the University of Pennsylvania. He currently lives in New York and his acting credits include a recurring role on US series Person of Interest and a guest role on Elementary.
Reeva is played German model Toni Garrn, who knows about dating an A-lister because she dated Leonardo DiCaprio for a year.
How well do they portray Oscar and Reeva? Here's the trailer to give you an idea:
Will you be watching?