The family of slain PE model, Reeva Steenkamp, have slammed the US producers of a movie about the rise and fall of paralympian Oscar Pistorius.
The trailer for the movie, Oscar Pistorius - Blade Runner Killer, was released in the past 24 hours by its makers, Lifetime Movies, a digital cable and satellite TV network in the United States.
The movie features Andreas Damm, who plays Oscar and Reeva is played by actress Toni Garn.
It is touted as a “biopic” about the rise and fall of Pistorius who is serving a six-year jail sentence for the shooting death of Steenkamp.
In brief statement on Monday via their lawyer, Tania Koen, the Steenkamp family said that they did not endorse the movie.
“June Steenkamp had no knowledge of the making of the film ‘Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer”,” said Koen.
“She was not approached by Lifeline to participate, comment or be part of the making thereof. Any impression that is created that this is her view or endorsed by the Steenkamp family is factually incorrect,” she said.
June and Barry Steenkamp, who are still mourning the tragic loss of Reeva Steenkamp, had no knowledge of the making of the film 'Blade Runner Killer". They are horrified and upset to read a report that 'the movie is told from Steenkamp and her mother's perspective'.
The damaging and misleading claim is made in a report by the leading trade newspaper Dateline Hollywood and has not been denied by 'Lifetime', which is part of the giant American entertainment company, A+E Networks.
Mr and Mrs Steenkamp politely request that Ms Nancy Dubuc, President and Chief Executive Officer of A+E Networks, issue a public denial of the claim in Dateline Hollywood and distance her respectable network from such a disreputable statement
The movie is slated for release in November, just days after the Supreme Court of Appeal is expected to rule on an application by the state which appealed the six-year sentence imposed by Judge Thokozile Masipa.
(See trailer below)
