Birmingham, Al (WIAT) Sometimes life…and death… imitate art. And sometimes art imitates life and death. Whether a film being made about Joran van der Sloot is truly art no one knows yet. But the very existence of the movie shows truth is stranger than fiction.
When Joran van der Sloot catapulted back into the news with his arrest in Peru for the murder of 21 year old student Stephany Flores, a Dutch filmmaker was shooting a movie about van der Sloot and the Natalee Holloway case in Aruba.
According to the Dutch newspaper
De Telegraaf, the film Me & Mr. Jones is being made by Dutch film maker Paul Ruven. It tells the fictional story of an undercover journalist trying to solve the Natalee Holloway case.
Holloway, a Mountain Brook High School grad disappeared on a graduation trip to Aruba. She was last seen with van der Sloot who, despite being questioned several times by Aruban authorities, has never been charged in connection to Natalee’s disappearance.
The Dutch national was indicted on wire fraud and extortion charges by a federal grand jury here in Birmingham last month. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office claim he took money from the Holloway family in exchange for information about Natalee’s fate, but never came through with any information. While the U.S. authorities where preparing their case after a sting-type meeting with van der Sloot, he went to South America where he is accused of killing Flores after meeting her at a poker tournament in Lima, Peru.
And while all of that was happening, Ruven was quietly shooting his movie in Aruba…apparently without publicity because of sensitivity on the island about the Holloway case and criticism of the handling of it by Aruban authorities.
The movie stars Dutch actors Robert de Hoog and Hanna Verboom and was shooting on Aruba from April through June. When the Flores murder controversy erupted in South America, it was apparently incorporated into the story line of the movie.
Ruven’s website says the film will be released early in 2011.
More on Paul Ruven's film resume.
