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The true crime drama Under the Bridge explores the real-life murder of Canadian teen Reena Virk and draws inspiration from Rebecca Godfrey’s best-selling book of the same name. Riley Keough plays a fictionalized version of the author, whose book won British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction in 2006. Given that the series is straightforward about its origins, many have been left wanting to know more about Godfrey.
As reported by The New York Times, Godfrey died on Oct. 3, 2022 from lung cancer at the age of 54. Throughout her career, the author developed a cult following for her work, which includes her debut book The Torn Skirt and Under the Bridge.
Godfrey was an alum of the University of Toronto and Sarah Lawrence College and worked as an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University.
Show creators Quinn Shephard and Samir Mehta worked with Godfrey before her death to develop the limited series on Hulu, and gained access to her “meticulous” archives which included seven years of research.
In an interview, Shephard told Decider, “We had access to pretty much every single article that had ever been written about the crime, we found things that weren’t in Under the Bridge and weren’t in Manjit’s [Virk] book. We tried to zoom out as much as possible and include every pivotal detail that might have gone unturned.”
Shephard opened up about her closeness with Godfrey on Instagram in 2022, writing, “I have had the honor of interviewing @_rebecca_godfrey_ for the last three years for my new TV show Under the Bridge, a project which explores the life and murder of Reena Virk in 1997 in British Columbia. She has given me the greatest gift by allowing me into her beautiful mind and the seven years she spent living and writing this story. I cannot wait to help bring this to life.”
When Godfrey died, Shephard posted a tribute: “Rebecca Godfrey and the things that make me think of her now and always will: Girls in fields and forests. Farmers market picnics like the one we had the day we met. Doodles on legal pads. Fresh wildflowers and cherries. Sonic Youth and Cat Power. These tapes, from the 90s, of kids on a fairytale island speaking about murder and middle school.”
She continued, “Your rebellious spirit was and is so tender, mysterious, inspiring, electric. We cried together and made art together but also snuck sparkling rosé into a movie theater like kids. You gave me the greatest gift, of your words and yourself. It’s an honor to write about you and I feel you with me all the time now, as I continue this dream journey we had together.”
In a memoriam posted by Columbia University, Godfrey was described as, “large-hearted, funny, exuberant and charming, ferociously loyal, joyfully stylish, bracing and tonic in her honesty, startlingly acute in her insights.”
Godfrey received high acclaim for Under the Bridge, which was included in Rolling Stone‘s 11 True Crime Books For Music Lovers and Men’s Journal‘s Best True Crime Books. The book was also optioned by Reese Witherspoon’s Type A Production in 2007, but nothing came to fruition.
But Godfrey’s legacy lives in through the Hulu series and her final book Peggy, set to be released posthumously on August 13, 2024.
Under the Bridge is streaming on Hulu.
