After signing on to star in Hulu's "The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox," the actor only had two months to prepare for the role: "It was nice to kind of have a fire under me."

"I was able to ask her as many questions as I possibly could,” said Grace Van Patten of preparing to portray Amanda Knox. "She was extremely open with me."

Van Patten tells PEOPLE she remembers worrying, "What would [Knox] think of me, this random actress portraying her in a very traumatic time of her life?"