Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, director of 2004's award-winning true crime documentary The Staircase, has accused Antonio Campos' namesake HBO Max series of being inaccurate.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, de Lestrade said that when he was approached by Campos, he granted the director full access to footage and archives as he trusted him to retell the story.
In the interview, de Lestrade said: "We gave [Campos] all the access he wanted, and I really trusted the man. So that's why today I'm very uncomfortable, because I feel that I've been betrayed in a way."
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De Lestrade's complaint seems to focus on episode 5 of the drama, 'The Beating Heart', which is accused of suggesting that the editor of the 2004 documentary, Sophie Brunet, was engaged in a romantic relationship with Peterson while she was filming the documentary.
Brunet told Vanity Fair that their relationship did not begin until after filming had concluded.
This apparent blurring of facts and fiction also troubled producer Allyson Luchak, who told the magazine "to malign or discredit our filmmaking by making it seem as though we were biased from the beginning is insulting and professionally damaging".
HBO Max did not comment. Campos did not respond to the magazine by the time of publication and is yet to comment.
Related: The Staircase: Answering 7 BIG questions raised by the true-crime doc
The HBO Max limited series sees Colin Firth in the role of Michael Peterson. Peterson was convicted of murder in 2003 after his wife Kathleen was found dead at the bottom of the staircase in their home. The conviction was later reduced to voluntary manslaughter in 2017.
The drama's all-star cast includes Toni Collette as Kathleen Peterson, Sophie Turner as Margaret Ratliff, Dane DeHaan as Clayton Peterson and Patrick Schwarzenegger as Todd Peterson. It explores the family dynamic and the events that led up to that pivotal night.
2004's The Staircase, which won a Peabody award in 2005, received new interest when it was added to Netflix in 2018 with three new episodes.
The Staircase airs on Thursdays on HBO in the US, and on Sky and NOW in the UK.
Reporter, Digital Spy
Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
