PROSECUTORS of an Australian charged with killing tourist Peter Falconio have asked that the release of a film inspired by the event be delayed in the state where the trial is to be held.
The thriller Wolf Creek, about three backpackers who are abducted by a man in the Outback, is scheduled for Australian national release on Thursday, November 3.
Previews of the film, inspired by the Falconio case and the serial killings of seven backpackers between 1989 and 1992, have been screened in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.
Prosecutors have asked Roadshow Films to delay the release of the film in the Northern Territory, where Mr Falconio disappeared.
The Hepworth backpacker was believed murdered after he and his girlfriend, Joanne Lees, from Almondbury, were ambushed on a lonely highway in 2001.
The trial, which begins on Monday, will be held in the Northern Territory's capital, Darwin, and is likely to last six to eight weeks.
Roadshow said in a statement: "The request was made after Roadshow arranged a screening of Wolf Creek for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Darwin."
Roadshow said the trial judge had raised concerns over the film and that the company was considering the request to delay screening. A decision will be made late tomorrow.
Truck driver Bradley Murdoch is to stand trial for Mr Falconio's murder.
Murdoch, 45, will also be tried for the abduction of Ms Lees.
She escaped after the couple were ambushed on the remote Stuart Highway in central Australia on July 14, 2001.
