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Crime News

First Look At Elle Fanning In Hulu Drama As Michelle Carter, Teen Involved In Boyfriend's Suicide

Elle Fanning stars as Michelle Carter in Hulu's upcoming "The Girl From Plainville," which dramatizes the suicide texting death of Conrad Roy III and the subsequent high profile trial.

By Gina Tron
Elle Fanning Michelle Carter Plainville Hulu

Sneak peek pictures from Hulu’s “The Girl From Plainville” showcase actor Elle Fanning looking strikingly similar to Michelle Carter, the embattled teen she plays in an upcoming docudrama series.

In one photo, released this week, Fanning mirrors Carter’s infamous sullen appearance in court: tanned, with dark and striking eyebrows, and a frown. In another, Fanning is practically a doppelganger of the controversial woman as she flees reporters.

The series, based primarily on the Esquire article of the same name by Jesse Barron, aims to “explore Carter’s relationship with Conrad Roy III and the events that led to his death and, later, her controversial conviction of involuntary manslaughter," Hulu stated in 2020.

Carter, now 25, was sentenced to serve 15 months after being convicted in 2017 of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III. A judge determined that Carter, who was 17 at the time, was culpable in 18-year-old Roy's suicide after she encouraged him to die by suicide in text messages, as well as telling him in a phone call to get back in his carbon monoxide-filled truck  She was released in January of 2020 on good behavior after appealing her conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The Girl From Plainville" is a production of Universal Content Productions, a division of Universal Studio Group. UCP and Oxygen share a parent company in NBCUniversal. The creative team behind the series includes Golden Globe-nominated screenwriter Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus, who is also the writer behind the Peacock series "Dr. Death."

Macmanus told  Entertainment Weekly that Fanning “did not want this to feel sensational.” 

“She wanted it to be an honest portrayal of not just these families and what they went through, but from what people are going through in general on a day-to-day basis when it comes to their mental health,” he told the entertainment outlet.

Elle Fanning Michelle Carter G

In 2020, it was reported that Barron will be a consulting producer alongside documentarian Erin Lee Carr, who directed the HBO documentary "I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter."

While an exact date for the series has not been released, it’s expected to be out by spring, Elle reports.

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