Denise Fergus, the mother whose murdered child served as the source for the Irish short film “Detainment,” spoke out on Tuesday after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences gave an Oscar nomination to the film.
“This is all I want to say at present,” Fergus said in a tweet prior to voicing her disgust over ”Detainment.”
The short film from Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon, in reference to the 1993 case of James Bulger, Fergus’ 2-year-old child from Kirkby, Merseyside in the U.K. who was kidnapped, tormented and slaughtered by two young boys. ”Detainment” characterized these two 10-year-olds as they are restrained by police under apprehension.
When asked for a response, Lambe referred to an earlier statement in which he made an apology for not getting in touch with Fergus for authorization to analyze her son’s story.
“As we set out to make a fact-based film that was impartial, we did not attempt to contact any of the families involved and instead relied solely on the factual material,” he stated. “I have enormous sympathy for the Bulger family, and I am extremely sorry for any upset the film may have caused them. With hindsight, I am sorry I did not make Mrs. Fergus aware of the film.”
Fergus wrote, “I cannot express how disgusted and upset I am at this so-called film that has been made and now nominated for an Oscar. It’s one thing making a film like this without contacting or getting permission from James’s family but another to have a child re-enact the final hours of James’s life before he was brutally murdered, and making myself and my family have to relive this all over again!”
Fergus started a petition that she says has been approved by more than 90,000 people to have ”Detainment” banished from Oscars controversy, “which has now been ignored just like my feelings by the Academy,” she added.
“I’m so angry and upset at this present time. I personally want to thank everyone that has signed the petition up to now and hopefully will carry on supporting me in this. I just hope the film doesn’t win its category in the Oscars.”
The Academy did not instantly answer to EW’s demands for comment.
