The West Memphis Three are now officially a trend. With the trio of wrongly convicted boys now free (though still yet to be fully exonerated for the crimes they were accused of), it seems there's going to be no slowdown of documentaries and feature films about them. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky wrapped up their decades-long work with "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" which hit HBO last month, while producer Peter Jackson and director Amy Berg hit Sundance with their comprehensive overview of the case in "West Of Memphis." Atom Egoyan is currently gearing up "The Devil's Knot" with Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth and now another movie is on the way with one of the biggest movie stars on the planet behind it.
Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil shingle has snapped up the rights to Damien Echols' forthcoming memoir, set to be published this spring. Echols and his wife Lorri Davis will serve as producers on the project (they also acted in that capacity on "West Of Memphis") in the tale that will span his incarceration at the age of 18 up until his release in his mid-30s. Depp has long been one of many of the celebrity supporters of the West Memphis Three, so his involvement here is hardly schocking.
And while we're glad Hollywood types are using their powers to champion and raise awareness for a cause that deserves attention, we're already feeling a bit of fatigue. If the films help get more pressure on the Arkansas district attourney to fully exonerate these boys, then great, but we can't say we're overly eager for yet another journey through this story. But if anything, these projects will keep the case in the public consciousness, and perhaps on that level alone, they are worth pursuing until justice is fully served. [Deadline]
