Denise Fergus hits out at Oscar nomination for film about James’s murder

The mother of James Bulger, Denise Fergus has said she is “angry and upset” that Detainment, the short film about her son’s murder, has been nominated for an Oscar and there is a petition that you can sign to have it taken off the nomination list.

The film has received a nomination in the live action short category at the 91st Academy Awards.

Written and directed by Vincent Lambe, the film is based on the interview transcripts with Bulger’s killers, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, and dramatises those interviews.

Denise tweeted: “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 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!

This is all I want to say at present. pic.twitter.com/GbyshtVoa9

— Denise Fergus (@Denise_fergus) January 22, 2019

“After everything I’ve said about this so called film and asking for it to be removed, it’s still been nominated for an Oscar even though over 90,000 people have signed a petition which has now been ignored just like my feelings by the Academy.

“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 it’s category in the Oscars.”

Lambe has previously said the production was careful to be sensitive and respectful of the Bulger family.

He said: “While the information in the film has been public knowledge for a very long time, there were a lot of details that we chose not to include.

“I thought about it a lot because it is such a sensitive story and wanted to ensure that it was respectful to the family of James Bulger and responsibly made without showing any graphic details.”

You can sign the petition here to have the film removed from the Oscar nomination list.