Kit Connor and Diana Silvers are filming PRƎPPY, a true-crime drama about the 1986 killing of Jennifer Levin in Central Park, with Connor playing Robert Chambers, the man the tabloids dubbed the “Preppy Killer,” and Silvers playing Levin.
Cameras are recreating the summer of 1986 on the streets of Manhattan, and on October 7 paparazzi caught Connor and Silvers in 1980s period costume between setups.
Here’s the real case the movie is built on. In August 1986, 18-year-old Levin’s body was found in Central Park with signs of strangulation.
She had last been seen leaving an Upper East Side bar with Chambers, then 19, in the early morning hours. He turned up with fresh scratches on his face and neck.
Chambers came from money and elite prep schools, which is how the tabloids landed on the nickname that stuck: the “Preppy Killer.” He claimed Levin died by accident during rough sex, and his defense went after her character and sexual history, turning the trial into a referendum on class and victim-blaming as much as on what happened in the park.
In 1988, with the jury deliberating, he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. He served about 15 years.
Connor, fresh off Heartstopper and cast as Cyclops in the new X-Men film, plays Chambers. Silvers, known for Booksmart and Ma, plays Levin.
Janicza Bravo, who made Zola, is directing, with Cara Delevingne also in the cast. Filming began in September and is set to wrap in late October.
