Natalee Holloway (film)
Encyclopedia
Natalee Holloway is a 2009 film
directed by Mikael Salomon
. The made-for-television movie is based on Beth Holloway
's book about the 2005 disappearance of her daughter Natalee Holloway
. The film stars Amy Gumenick as Natalee Holloway, Tracy Pollan
as Beth Holloway-Twitty, and Jacques Strydom as Joran van der Sloot
. When it aired on the Lifetime Movie Network
on April 19, 2009, the film scored the highest television ratings
at that time in the network's history.
's bestselling book Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith
. The senior vice president of original movies, Tanya Lopez, stated in the announcement that the network was "pleased to be working closely with Natalee's mother" and that they intended to tell the story of Natalee Holloway's disappearance "sensitively and accurately." Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post
questioned whether it was too soon for such a film to be made. Holloway said that she was not sure at first that she could take this step, but felt that it was "the right thing to do" after meeting the creative staff in Los Angeles
.
The film was shot in Cape Town, South Africa, and produced by Sony Pictures Television
with Von Zerneck Sertner Films. Holloway's book was adapted for television by Teena Booth, who had previously written A Little Thing Called Murder
and Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal
for Lifetime Television. Holloway said that she was fascinated and at first overwhelmed by the logistics of the production, which she views "as an accomplishment."
, and the ensuing investigation in the aftermath. The film does not solve the case, but stages re-creation
s of various scenarios, based on the testimony of key players and suspects, including Joran van der Sloot
, who is the last person seen drinking with her and escorting her out of the bar. His contradictory accounts, some presented days and others presented years later, are used to present different reenactments of Holloway's final hours before she went missing.
in the Lifetime Movie Network's 11-year history at that time.
. Harvey called the movie "sloppy and uneven, a forgettable look at the tragedy that consumed the nation's attention for months". However, Jake Meaney of PopMatters
found the film to be surprisingly "calm and levelheaded", and praised Tracy Pollan's portrayal of Beth Holloway. Holloway said that she was honored by Pollan's portrayal and that there "could not have been a better choice."
Joran van der Sloot himself watched the film one evening in 2010, according to his friend John Ludwick, and said that some parts were true while others were not.
for home video
on November 10, 2009 by Sony Pictures. It was released internationally on DVD in January 2010 in the Netherlands
, Germany
, and Argentina
. It has also been released in France
, Greece
, and Spain
.
2009 in film
The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note...
directed by Mikael Salomon
Mikael Salomon
Mikael Salomon is a Danish filmmaker, cinematographer of The Abyss and Backdraft , and director of Band of Brothers ....
. The made-for-television movie is based on Beth Holloway
Beth Holloway
Elizabeth Ann Reynolds "Beth" Holloway, also previously known as Beth Twitty, is an American speech pathologist and motivational speaker. Holloway specializes in teaching special needs children in public schools...
's book about the 2005 disappearance of her daughter Natalee Holloway
Natalee Holloway
Natalee Ann Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. An American student from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Holloway graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005, shortly before the trip...
. The film stars Amy Gumenick as Natalee Holloway, Tracy Pollan
Tracy Pollan
Tracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties in the mid-1980s. It was on this show that she met future husband Michael J. Fox.-Personal life:...
as Beth Holloway-Twitty, and Jacques Strydom as Joran van der Sloot
Joran van der Sloot
Joran Andreas Petrus van der Sloot is a Dutch national who lived in Aruba. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States for wire fraud and extortion related to the whereabouts of Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005, and is charged in Peru with the...
. When it aired on the Lifetime Movie Network
Lifetime Movie Network
Lifetime Movie Network is a cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A&E Television Networks, LLC. A&E Television Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst Corporation and NBCUniversal. LMN offers women-oriented movies...
on April 19, 2009, the film scored the highest television ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
at that time in the network's history.
Production
In October 2008, the Lifetime Movie Network (LMN) announced plans to create a television film based on Beth HollowayBeth Holloway
Elizabeth Ann Reynolds "Beth" Holloway, also previously known as Beth Twitty, is an American speech pathologist and motivational speaker. Holloway specializes in teaching special needs children in public schools...
's bestselling book Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith
Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith
Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith is an autobiography written by Beth Holloway about her missing daughter Natalee Holloway, with portions contributed by Sunny Tillman...
. The senior vice president of original movies, Tanya Lopez, stated in the announcement that the network was "pleased to be working closely with Natalee's mother" and that they intended to tell the story of Natalee Holloway's disappearance "sensitively and accurately." Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
questioned whether it was too soon for such a film to be made. Holloway said that she was not sure at first that she could take this step, but felt that it was "the right thing to do" after meeting the creative staff in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
The film was shot in Cape Town, South Africa, and produced by Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
with Von Zerneck Sertner Films. Holloway's book was adapted for television by Teena Booth, who had previously written A Little Thing Called Murder
A Little Thing Called Murder
A Little Thing Called Murder is a 2006 drama film starring Judy Davis and Jonathan Jackson and directed by Richard Benjamin. This film made for television, by Stonemade Entertainment for Lifetime TV, was based on a true story, as told in the book Dead End by reporter Jeanne King.-Synopsis:Judy...
and Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal
Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal
Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal is a Lifetime Television drama film starring Tatum O'Neal and directed by Tom McLoughlin. The film premiered on August 2, 2008. It is based on a true story, which occurred at McKinney North High School in McKinney, Texas in 2006...
for Lifetime Television. Holloway said that she was fascinated and at first overwhelmed by the logistics of the production, which she views "as an accomplishment."
Plot
The film retells events leading up to the night of Natalee Holloway's disappearance in ArubaAruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
, and the ensuing investigation in the aftermath. The film does not solve the case, but stages re-creation
Re-creation
A re-creation is a reenactment, typically used to solve a crime or determine a mode of failure or cause of death. This may either be an actual reenactment, or a virtual reality one done on a computer...
s of various scenarios, based on the testimony of key players and suspects, including Joran van der Sloot
Joran van der Sloot
Joran Andreas Petrus van der Sloot is a Dutch national who lived in Aruba. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States for wire fraud and extortion related to the whereabouts of Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005, and is charged in Peru with the...
, who is the last person seen drinking with her and escorting her out of the bar. His contradictory accounts, some presented days and others presented years later, are used to present different reenactments of Holloway's final hours before she went missing.
Broadcast
The April 19, 2009 broadcast attracted 3.2 million viewers and more than 1 million women in the 18-49 age bracket, garnering the highest Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
in the Lifetime Movie Network's 11-year history at that time.
Reception
Although the movie set ratings records for Lifetime, the movie was not received well by critic Alec Harvey of The Birmingham NewsThe Birmingham News
The Birmingham News is the principal daily newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and the largest newspaper in Alabama. The paper is owned by Advance Publications...
. Harvey called the movie "sloppy and uneven, a forgettable look at the tragedy that consumed the nation's attention for months". However, Jake Meaney of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
found the film to be surprisingly "calm and levelheaded", and praised Tracy Pollan's portrayal of Beth Holloway. Holloway said that she was honored by Pollan's portrayal and that there "could not have been a better choice."
Joran van der Sloot himself watched the film one evening in 2010, according to his friend John Ludwick, and said that some parts were true while others were not.
Home media
The film was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
for home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
on November 10, 2009 by Sony Pictures. It was released internationally on DVD in January 2010 in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. It has also been released in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Tracy Pollan Tracy Pollan Tracy Jo Pollan is an American actress. She is perhaps best-known for her recurring role as Ellen Reed on the sitcom Family Ties in the mid-1980s. It was on this show that she met future husband Michael J. Fox.-Personal life:... |
Beth Holloway-Twitty Beth Holloway Elizabeth Ann Reynolds "Beth" Holloway, also previously known as Beth Twitty, is an American speech pathologist and motivational speaker. Holloway specializes in teaching special needs children in public schools... , Natalee's mother |
| Grant Show Grant Show Grant Alan Show is an American actor best known for his role on Melrose Place as Jake Hanson, which he played from 1992 to 1997.-Early life:... |
George "Jug" Twitty, Natalee's stepfather |
| Catherine Dent Catherine Dent Catherine Dent is an American actress who has starred in film and in television. Her first feature film was the 1994 movie Nobody's Fool.... |
Carol Standifer, friend of Beth Holloway-Twitty |
| Amy Gumenick | Natalee Holloway Natalee Holloway Natalee Ann Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. An American student from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Holloway graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005, shortly before the trip... , graduating high school student who disappeared on Aruba Aruba Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula... |
| Sean Michael (South African actor) Sean Michael (South African actor) Sean Cameron Michael is a South African actor, writer and singer. A native English speaker, he is also fluent in Afrikaans.-Early life:... |
Paul van der Sloot, father of Joran van der Sloot |
| Jacques Strydom | Joran van der Sloot Joran van der Sloot Joran Andreas Petrus van der Sloot is a Dutch national who lived in Aruba. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States for wire fraud and extortion related to the whereabouts of Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005, and is charged in Peru with the... , suspect in Natalee's diappearance |
| Cokey Falkow | Patrick van der Eem Patrick van der Eem Patrick Paul van der Eem is a Dutch Antillean entrepreneur and convicted drug dealer known for his part in the undercover television report about Joran van der Sloot that was produced by Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries... , working in an undercover investigation |
| Kai Coetzee | Matt Holloway, Natalee's brother |
| Clayton Evertson | Deepak Kalpoe, friend of Joran van der Sloot |
| Wayne Harrison Wayne Harrison Wayne Harrison was a child and teenage star performing on stage and television, including performing in J.C. Williamsons' musicals... |
Dave Holloway, Natalee's father |
External links
- Natalee Holloway at the Lifetime Movie NetworkLifetime Movie NetworkLifetime Movie Network is a cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A&E Television Networks, LLC. A&E Television Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC Television Group, Hearst Corporation and NBCUniversal. LMN offers women-oriented movies...