Elizabeth Hurley’s son Damian Hurley has said the storyline in his directorial debut was inspired by the tragic deaths of a close friend and his father, Steve Bing.
In the film, Strictly Confidential, a young woman drowns near her family's Caribbean home, and her relatives grapple with the aftermath of the tragedy.
The filmmaker, 22, revealed that the concept for the plot was drawn from his own experiences of loss, after a close friend and his biological father took their own lives.
Speaking on the inspiration behind the film’s storyline, Hurley told Tatler: “Finally, I unearthed a treatment I'd written when I was 17 in the aftermath of losing a close friend to suicide.
“At the time I'd shelved it, deciding I wasn't yet ready to tell the story, but in the three-year interim I'd lost a parent, also to suicide, and had been forced to grow up fast.
“I realised I now had the experience to bring the script to life, and Strictly Confidential was born: the story of a young woman who is haunted by the suicide of her best friend and determined to find answers.”
British actress Elizabeth Hurley, 58, began dating late film producer Bing shortly after she split from Hugh Grant in 2000.
The Bedazzled star welcomed their son Damian in 2002 after their 18-month romance ended but the businessman contested paternity, claiming that they had been in a non-exclusive relationship at the time.
Bing tragically passed away in 2020 after taking his life in Los Angeles.
Recently, the Austin Power star broke her silence after her son Damian said it “felt totally normal” to direct her raunchy sex scene in their new film.
Last year, the model-turned-director hit the headlines after it was disclosed that he had shot his mother’s intimate scene with another woman for the Prime video thriller.
The topic of the scene resurfaced recently when the director was questioned about the filmmaking process in an interview.
In response to the furore, Hurley addressed the commentary and insisted: “People are making a lot of fuss”.
She told People: “I think there's a lot of factors making it a particularly interesting scene for people.”
The Hollywood star first noted the 30-year age gap between her and co-star, 28-year-old Pear Chiravara, then said there’s “the fact that I'm doing it, and I've never really done a scene like that before” before discussing her son’s involvement as writer and director.
Hurley added that while moments in the movie are “quite out there and daring, there actually isn’t any nudity. Nobody’s exploited at all. We all felt comfortable doing it.”
Strictly Confidential was released in US cinemas and on Prime Video on April 5 and will be released in the UK on May 13.
