The first trailer for Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, which will star Zac Efron as Ted Bundy, has arrived and it’s not gone down well.
The clip was released on Friday after it aired at the Sundance Film Festival and people quickly took to Twitter to slam the film, with some saying it ‘sexualized’ the serial killer and is like a ‘punch in the face’ to his victims.
Bundy’s heinous crimes continue to fascinate people to this day due in part to his ‘personality’, good looks and social graces which defied the serial-killer stereotype and allowed him to hide in plain sight as he committed the brutal sex-crime slayings of more than 30 women before being caught in 1978.
The film will tell the story of Bundy’s crimes from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years. Lily Collins will star as Kloepfer and John Malkovich will play judge Edward Cowart, the man who presided over Bundy’s televised trial and sentenced him to death in 1979.
The film’s trailer has landed hot on the heels of Netflix’s docuseries Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes which shares the same director, Joe Berlinger, as the film. And features exclusive, never-before-heard interviews from the ‘Jack the Ripper of the United States,’ himself, as well as some of the women who got away.
However, from the 90-second trailer it seems that, although the film shows some of his killings, it is focused more on the trial and public perception of Bundy, who received extraordinary adoration from American women while on trial, which made his gruesome crimes doubly haunting.
One person tweeted in response to the trailer:
“That’s exactly what Ted Bundy wanted. posthumous fame for his cruelties.
“You can count on Hollywood to make the worst human beings immortal. What’s next? The Harvey Weinstein biopic?
“What a punch to the face for the victim’s families after all these years.”
That’s exactly what Ted Bundy wanted. posthumous fame for his cruelties. You can count on Hollywood to make the worst human beings immortal.What’s next?The Harvey Weinstein biopic?What a punch to the face for the victim’s families after all these years #ZacEfron #ExtremelyWicked pic.twitter.com/vgPCqHexmD
— Shiroshika (@iamshiroshika) January 25, 2019
ted bundy: I raped and murdered 80-90 women
trailer for ted bundy movie:
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎🚬🚬🚬🚬🚬🚬— melissa lozada-oliva (@ellomelissa) January 26, 2019
However, others have jumped to the defense of the filmmaker and suggested that portraying Bundy as attractive was intentional. One Twitter user said:
“People are getting so butthurt over the fact that the Ted Bundy movie is ‘romanticizing a serial killer’.
“When that’s literally how he was depicted back then They romanticized his ass! Hell, did y’all even look at the Ted Bundy tapes on Netflix? Y’all dumb as hell.”
People are getting so but hurt over the fact that the Ted Bundy movie is “romanticizing a serial killer” when THAT’S LITERALLY HOW HE WAS DEPICTED BACK THEN!!!! They ROMANTICIZED HIS ASS. Hell, did y’all even LOOK at the Ted Bundy tapes on Netflix? Y’all dumb as hell.
— Maree (@Zendvyaa) January 27, 2019
There is no date for the film just yet but the trailer teases that it is ‘Coming Soon’.