BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - Don't expect any one in Aruba to line up to see "Me and Mr. Jones on Natalee Island", Dutch film maker Paul Ruven's recently released fictional account of the Natalee Holloway disappearance.
Cinema Operator Cor Dammers told Radio Netherlands Worldwide "Aruba is not waiting that this story is resurrected again. There's enough damage. Moreover, we show mainly Hollywood blockbusters, and that this film is not. "
Aruban law enforcement and the local tourist industry have been dealing with the negative publicity for more than six years. And now they're dealing with the disappearance of another American blonde, Robyn Gardner. The attorney for the suspect in that case, Gary Giordano, recently said his client is being treated unfairly because of a desire to avoid criticism like that that followed Natalee's disappearance and the case against Joran van der Sloot.
So you can image how thriled the locals were to find out back in 2010 that Ruven was secretly filming on Aruba. What made it even more weird is that while he was wrapping up his work there, news broke that van der Sloot was back in the headlines.
The body of a 21 year old Peruvian student, Stephany Flores, was found in van der Sloot's Lima hotel room. Found five years to the day that Natalee walked out of an Oranjestad bar with van der Sloot and was never seen again.
So naturally, Ruven wrote that into his script.
There was another delay in the production of the film when...you can't make this stuff up...van der Sloot's mother went to court claiming exclusive commercial rights to the name Joran van der Sloot.
The case was settled with Ruven apparently making some cuts in the film but keeping the focus on his fictional account of an investigative reporter obsessed with breaking the Holloway case.
The film debuted at the Netherlands Film Festival Thursday. CBS42.com will interview filmmaker Paul Ruven via Skype on Monday.