Lifetime Oscar Pistorius movie ‘horrifies’ Steenkamp family and South Africa

A trailer for the upcoming Lifetime film Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer has been released, and it seems neither the Steenkamps nor the Pistorius family were aware of its existence.

The film will ostensibly tell of the events leading up to the fateful shooting on Valentine’s Day 2013, when Paralympic athlete Pistorius killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. It will also cover the subsequent trials — though whether the film ends at the first conviction of manslaughter or the second of murder remains yet to be seen.

The Steenkamp family has issued a statement that they are “horrified” the filmmakers said it would tell the side of Reeva and her mother June, despite consulting no one in the family.

“Any impression that is created that this is June’s view, or that the movie is endorsed by the Steenkamp family, is untrue and incorrect,” they said in a statement according to TimesLIVE.

Carl Pistorius — Oscar’s brother — has issued a statement that the family would be taking legal action.

“The film is a gross misrepresentation of the truth,” he wrote. “We will be taking legal action.”

This legal action will likely not provide the results the Pistorius clan want: it is entirely legal to create unauthorised biopics.

Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer will be produced by Lifetime

The family may be able to find grounds to sue in regards to defamation, but winning that case in a country like the US — where free speech is heavily protected — will prove difficult.

Of course, legality and ethics don’t often go hand-in-hand, and many South Africans are outraged that an American studio could produce a film like this (with an American writer and director to boot) without consulting even the Steenkamps, who have arguably suffered the most through this ordeal.

Though there were some who saw no issue with grabbing at an opportunity.

Blade Runner Killer is set to premiere in the US on November 11.

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