Netflix has purchased the Zac Efron-starring Ted Bundy biopic.
Following the film’s premiere at Sundance Film Festival, the streaming service reportedly paid $9 million for Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
Joe Berlinger, who also helmed Netflix’s documentary series on the serial killer, directed the film, which chronicles Bundy’s crimes from the perspective of Elizabeth Kloepfer, his longtime girlfriend who refused to believe the truth.
Lily Collins plays Kloepfer opposite Efron’s Bundy. Haley Joel Osment, Kaya Scodelario, John Malkovich, Jim Parsons and Angela Sarafyan also star.
Reports also details that STX, Lionsgate and other studios bidded for distribution rights to the picture.
While at Sundance, Berlinger responded to criticism that the film sexualises Bundy, as he’s played by heart-throb Efron.
“I think the idea of this particular story, making a movie about Bundy, equals glorification of him is a very naive and knee-jerk reaction,” he said.
“If you actually watch the movie, the last thing we’re doing is glorifying him. He gets his due at the end, but we’re portraying the experience of how one becomes a victim to that kind of psychopathic seduction.”
The release of the project coincides with the 30th anniversary of his execution. Authorities believed that Bundy raped, murdered and dismembered more than 30 women before he was caught and exuected at the Florida State Prison in 1989.
One of Bundy’s surviving victims recently spoke about the spate of documentaries on the murderer. Kathy Kleiner Rubin said she “doesn’t have a problem” with people watching the film, “as long as they understand that what they’re watching wasn’t a normal person”.
