Natascha Kampusch

Natascha Kampusch: Bernd Eichinger, a producer on films as wide ranging as Resident Evil and The Baader Meinhof Complex, has died leaving behind an unfinished screenplay for a biographical film about Natascha Kampusch, the girl who was kidnapped by Wolfgang Priklopil when she was ten and held for eight years, most of it in a basement.

The film has been courting Cannes this week and the producer Martin Moskowicz says it will begin filming next year, but there's no word on the size or scope of the film, but we do know it is a biographical one, which means without Kampusch's involvement.

The journalist Peter Reichard interviewed Natascha Kampusch for German television and helped Bernd Eichinger with his drafts of the script and so he might be a good choice to complete the work, although no announcement has been made yet.

The article in The Guardian doesn't give much away about the film, but it does suggest that the film is controversial. I presume that this refers to the entire story itself, not the fact that it's a biographical and not autobiographical film, and not because of the script.

History tells us that the script is finished, and found a director, Constantin Film and wishes to complete the project. However it is worth pointing out that this isn't backed by Natascha Kampusch, and with her having written a memoir called 3.096 Days I would expect film companies are clambering over the rights to a film based on the book, and if that works out and she decides to sell, we can be guaranteed a much bigger production about her shocking story. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a film out about her experiences yet, although there are films that interpret the story, we haven't seen something about her story. Of course, I'm sure it is well managed and the idea is to sell the book before selling rights for the film.