Lifetime’s biopic of the actor takes inspiration from later-discredited poisoning claims made by her father.
Lifetime, the US TV channel known for controversial unauthorised biopics of Aaliyah and Whitney Houston has released the first trailer for its film about the life of Brittany Murphy. True to form, the TV biopic will reportedly examine discredited claims by the late actor’s father that her death was the result of poisoning.
The Wrap reports the film, titled The Brittany Murphy Story, is being pitched as a murder mystery. Four years after the star of Clueless, Girl, Interrupted and Eight Mile collapsed at her home in the Hollywood Hills, her estranged father Angelo Bertolotti presented the press with “evidence” suggesting she had been poisoned. However, experts later questioned the legitimacy of the independent toxicology report and Murphy’s mother made a public statement denouncing the claims as a “smear”.
She wrote: “Angelo Bertolotti has relocated to California in his old age to claim he is here for Brittany, as he never was in life. He has made outrageous statements over the past few years, culminating in this latest madness: that my darling daughter was murdered. His claims are based on the most flimsy of evidence and are more of an insult than an insight into what really happened.”
Lifetime previously drew criticism for its proposed biopic of Whitney Houston, with the late singer’s mother Cissy calling on film-makers to “please let her rest”. A film about the life of Aaliyah was also criticised for failing to consult members of the late US singer’s family before entering production. The biopic’s lead, 17-year-old Disney Channel regular Zendaya Coleman, later left the project after criticism from fans that she was too light-skinned for the role.
After Murphy’s death at the age of 32 in 2009, the LA coroners office concluded that pneumonia was the cause of death, with “anemia and prescription drugs [playing] a role”. The actor’s husband Simon Monjack died five months later, also of natural causes.
Bertolotti said in November last year that tabloids had unfairly labelled his daughter an anorexic and a drug addict following the findings. But Sharon Murphy later said her former partner had used an website that farmed out testing to a third party laboratory and then wrote “horribly untrue things under the guise of ‘analysis’”.
Lifetime has also drawn attention recently for its upcoming film about the lives and loves of the stars of cult 90s TV show Saved by the Bell. The Brittany Murphy Story is to air on 6 September in the US.