Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret

Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret
Written by	Gregory Small Richard Blaney
Directed by	Jace Alexander
Starring	Tania Raymonde Jesse Lee Soffer David Zayas Leah Pipes Zane Holtz
Theme music composer	Erran Baron Cohen Gregor Narholz
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Joshua D. Maurer Alixandre Witlin Judith Verno
Producers	Kyle A. Clark Lina Wong
Cinematography	Sharone Meir
Editor	Kathryn Himoff Christopher Nelson Yvette Mangassarian
Running time	120 minutes
Production companies	City Entertainment PeaceOut Productions Silver Screen Pictures
Original release
Release	June 22, 2013 (2013-06-22)

Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret is a 2013 American made-for-television drama film about the murder of Travis Alexander. Directed by Jace Alexander and executive produced by Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin and Judith Verno, the film focuses on Jodi Arias, a woman who was convicted of murdering Travis Alexander (her ex boyfriend). Created for and distributed by the Lifetime Network in association with City Entertainment and Silver Screen Pictures, the film premiered June 22, 2013.

Production

City Entertainment's Maurer and Witlin originally sold the project to Lifetime, which began consideration of the film as early as March 2012, eight months before the trial commenced, and began shooting it even as the trial was underway. A March 2013 report by Fox News shared that pre-production and casting were underway at that time, filming was to begin at Los Angeles locations in April, and actress Tania Raymonde had been selected to play the role of Jodi Arias.

Filming of the project began while the Maricopa County, Arizona trial was still ongoing, and concluded after the trial's May 8, 2013 first degree murder verdict for defendant Jodi Arias. The film's courtroom scenes were shot two days after the trial's conclusion, with portions of the original script rewritten to include key moments excerpted from case's final proceedings.

Storyline

The film follows the prosecution's timeline of events, and while some of the film's dialog is taken word-for-word from actual court transcripts, only the last five minutes of the film are dedicated to the courtroom scenes. The bulk of the film revolves around the love affair between Jodi Arias (Tania Raymonde) and Travis Alexander (Jesse Lee Soffer), the man she was convicted of murdering.

Cast

• Tania Raymonde as Jodi Arias
• Jesse Lee Soffer as Travis Alexander
• David Zayas as Detective Esteban Flores
• Leah Pipes as Katie
• Zane Holtz as Nick
• Tony Plana as Prosecutor Juan Martinez
• Debra Mooney as Caroline
• Jace Alexander as Boss
• Meredith Salenger as Willmott
• Jeff Howard as Paul
• Makinna Ridgway as Helen
• Kimberly Whalen as Angela
• Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Leslie
• Fernando Aldaz as Guy
• Jen Oda as Lab Tech

Critical response

The film met with both mixed and positive reviews from critics, with a score of 53 out of 100 from Metacritic. According to Nielsen Research as reported by Broadway World, in its averaging 3.1 million viewers on its premiere, the "film ranks as this year's #2 original cable movie". Geoff Berkshire of Variety says the movie, while unabashed exploitation, makes no apologies. Randy Cordova of The Arizona Republic says the movie was great, but felt it was too soon to make a film based on the murder. In USA Today, Cordova found that through "smart direction" the film was "better than expected", and praised the lead actor's performances as "sensitive and layered." People offered that the film did not unearth anything new about the murder case but was fine entertainment. They wrote it was "a pretty good film. It's a draw-you-in, sudsy melodrama stocked with guilty pleasures: romance, sex, obsession, betrayal and vengeance."

External links

• Official website
• Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret at Internet Movie Database