While I can't deny that, based off of the first trailer, Lifetime's upcoming Brittany Murphy biopic attempt, The Brittany Murphy Story, looks insanely bad, this is certainly not the way to go about voicing one's frustration. According to Uproxx, the father of the late actress (who was previously seen speaking to press about how he believes his daughter was murdered and wanted her case reopened — seemingly just for the attention of the press rather than true concern for the way Murphy's case was handled) Angelo Bertolotti has begun firing shots at The Brittany Murphy Story , and the actress who is portraying Murphy, Amanda Fuller. Of course, he told all his thoughts to The Examiner for us all to read, even if we don't want to:
Lifetime’s casting was atrocious. Amanda Fuller, the girl playing Brittany, looks absolutely nothing like her. Everyone looks ridiculous in their bad wigs and the dialogue is nauseating. To suggest that I was never in Brittany’s life since the age of 2 is absolutely despicable. I was always a part of Brittany’s life and supported both her and her mother. Anyone who thinks that Sharon and Brittany could afford to move from New Jersey to California by selling Tupperware should have their heads examined. The media loves to throw “mob ties” into the equation, but that lifestyle is exactly what attracted Sharon in the first place. She worked in one of my clubs, until we got married. From that point on, she was well taken care of, along with Brittany and never had to work another day in her life.
Hasn't he ever seen a Lifetime movie? This is pretty standard stuff. He adds:
I am disgusted and outraged that Lifetime decided to produce such a trashy project, defiling the memory of my beautiful, talented daughter, Brittany Murphy. Frankly, I am amazed at their audacity of calling it “a true story,” without conducting any research or consulting with any members of the family. "The Brittany Murphy Story" is an affront to everything my daughter was in real life. It’s hideous, unauthorized and completely untrue.
It's fine if he wants to share his feelings about the biopic. After all, Murphy was his daughter, and its understandable that he's frustrated at the thought of her memory not being honored properly — anyone would be. And really, the project looks awful.
But, the way he's showing that frustration isn't exactly the best way someone should go about it: According to Vulture via The TV Page , the actress hired to play Murphy, Amanda Fuller, had to eventually block Bertolotti on Twitter because she was being harassed by him for basically doing her job. (No matter how bad a job it was.)
"He has approached me on Twitter and said things like I am a disgrace," she said. "It is what it is...all of our hearts were in the right place. I had two days to prepare. [...] I just think it is interesting that the minute she is back in the press he is all about, 'I am going to sue' and all that stuff. If he really respected his daughter’s memory then I don’t know if he would be trying to make all this controversy about it. Let her rest in peace."
I know there's some irony in the actress playing Murphy being the one to say "let her rest in peace," but the sentiment is true — and like I said, she was just doing her job. Blame Lifetime all you want, blame the existence of the biopic itself, but never harass the actors who were just playing a part and trying to do their jobs.
That said...yeah, The Brittany Murphy Story should not be happening, but for some reason it is, this Saturday at 8 PM.
