COLOGNE, Germany – Bernd Eichinger and Constantin Film will adapt the real-life kidnapping drama of Austria’s Natascha Kampusch for the big screen.
Kampusch’s story made headlines around the world in 2006 when she escaped from the basement cell where the technician Wolfgang Priklopil had been holding her captive for eight years. Priklopil snatched the then 10 year-old Kampusch as she was on her way to school. When he discovered she had escaped, Priklopil killed himself.
In a statement Thursday, Kampusch said she trusted Eichinger, the producer of Oscar-nominees “The Baader Meinhof Complex” and “Downfall” would tell her story properly.
Journalist Peter Reichard, who spent months interviewing Kampusch for a German TV documentary, will develop the project together with Eichinger and co-write the script. There is no further talent attached yet.
“For Peter Reichard and I, the purpose is, after all the media speculation and political scandal…to tell what really happened,” Eichinger said.
Eichinger and Constantin plan to begin shooting on the Kampusch project in 2011. Constantin will bow the film in Germany in 2012.
