WASHINGTON — A movie inspired by the 2011 murder of D.C. socialite Viola Herms Drath has just had a trailer released by Paramount Movies under the name Georgetown.
The movie, which stars and is directed by critically acclaimed actor Christopher Waltz, follows the murder of Drath by her second husband. And while the characters in the movie are under different names, it follows the storyline of Drath's murder closely.
This is Waltz's first film that he has directed and he portrays in the movie a man that is a fictionalized version of Albrecht Gero Muth, who was convicted in Drath's murder.
Muth was decades younger than Drath when they married in the early 90s, according to a The Washington Post story that talked about Drath's connections in D.C. through her work on German reunification in the decades before and after she married Muth.
The movie directed by Waltz is based on a book about the murder called "The Worst Marriage in Georgetown."
The movie is available on digital and on-demand starting May 18, 2021, and in select theaters on May 14, according to Paramount Movies.
Muth was found guilty of killing his 91-year-old wife Viola Drath in August 2011. Drath, a writer and socialite, was found dead in their Georgetown home. Muth claimed his wife had fallen and died. A medical examiner determined that her death was a homicide.
At the time, prosecutors said Muth was a serial wife abuser who deserved no chance of ever walking the streets again.
Muth was hospitalized during his trial and sentencing amid staging a series of hunger strikes dating to December 2012. Muth was able to listen to and participate in the sentencing via a video link to the courtroom.
The judge said the evidence against Muth was "overwhelming" and that his refusal to eat was "a transparent attempt to avoid prosecution."
"Albrecht Muth's 20 years of violence toward his wife ended only when he strangled her to death in their Georgetown home," said U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen in a written statement. "For the rest of his life, Muth won't be able to masquerade as a military officer or member of a royal family while subjecting his wife to intolerable abuse. He will be a federal inmate paying the price for his brutal crime."
