Jodi Arias Movie Premieres Sunday on Lifetime: Trailer Released (VIDEO)
Jodi Arias will soon be in every home in America, thanks to Lifetime TV. "Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret" airs Sunday, June 22 at 8 p.m. ET and tells the sordid story of the woman responsible for the death of Travis Alexander.
Critics say the film is surprisingly good, even though it reveals nothing new about the woman whose trial captivated the country for five months. The film, which began production quite some time ago, is a straight look at the relationship between Alexander and Arias, his death, and the trial itself.
"This project was in the works over a year ago," screenwriter Richard Blaney told USA Today. "This thing didn't move as fast as everyone thinks. We completed the script in December."
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"Once the trial kicked into gear, we didn't anticipate it was going to grab the nation as much as it did. That's when the heat first got turned up a bit," added cowriter Gregory Small.
Arias is currently awaiting retrial in the sentencing phase of her trial after the previous jury could not reach a unanimous decision regarding her life or death. She was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Alexander, but the jury was unable to render a verdict for sentencing. The new trial will begin next month, affording the movie great timing for release.
"The portrait I tried to paint of Jodi was constantly evolving, and this, I could really help," actress Tania Raymonde, who took on the role of Arias, told USA Today. "We were filming a person's life story that hasn't been fully written yet. However, I had a couple strong initial feelings about Jodi that I kept close to my heart because I trust my intuition. As an actor, that's all you've got."
Frazier Moore, a national television columnist for The Associated Press called the film "an oddly respectable bit of fluff" and "a step up from the reality-TV treatment this case has gotten."
Watch a trailer of the movie here:
