MSNBC reports that real-life German cannibal Armin Meiwes is taking legal action in order to stop the release of director Martin Weisz’s film BUTTERFLY: A GRIMM LOVE STORY, which is based on the proliferation of Internet websites devoted to cannibal fetishism.
Facing life imprisonment for the self-confessed (and self-filmed) killing and cannibalizing of a German man, Meiwes, who denies that his actions were murder “since his victim volunteered to be eaten,” is concerned that the release of BUTTERFLY may affect the outcome of his trial. He further claims that the film, scripted by T.S. Faull and starring FELICITY’s Keri Russell and genre veteran Thomas (KING KONG) Kretschmann, is actually based on his life, and that it is a “slavish re-enactment” of real-life events which he did not give permission to producer Atlantic Streamline to fictionalize. (Meiwes has, however, granted the rights to his story to the German production company Stampfwerk, which is producing a 90-minute documentary on Meiwes and his trial.)
Meiwes goes on to say that the BUTTERFLY, which opens in Germany March 9, makes him “feel used,” and that he wants to prevent it from depicting a “false and stigmatized” view of cannibalism. German distribution company Senator Film states, however, that it has no plans to pull BUTTERFLY from release. In addition to Meiwes’ BUTTERFLY lawsuit, he has also filed legal action against German metal band Rammstein for their song “Mein Teil” (“My Piece”), claiming that it refers to his case.
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