Is the guy behind the Newtown TV movie trying to cash in on tragedy?

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Providing continuing coverage from Newtown, CT, ABC News reports on the tragic shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary school. Emergency services and vehicles near the firehouse which is being used as a rescue center, in Newtown, CT, 12/15/12.

This just may be the lowest of the lows as far as ripping from the headlines.

A firestorm of controversy has broken out over unknown director Jonathan Bucari's intention to film a TV movie related to December's tragic school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 26 children and adults dead.

The Facebook page for "Illness" (which has since been removed) described the movie as "the story of a mentally ill 13-year-old boy, and the ever-growing fear of his parents after they learn about the shooting in Newtown in December 2012."

Bucari -- whose only credit on IMDB is TV movie "The Sacrificial Lamb" -- and the producers of the film are raising money on crowdsourcing site Indiegogo, where producer Carina Rush noted their objective is to submit "Illness" to the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

While that may be their goal, it'll be a long road getting there. Many news outlets are reacting as if this was a serious enterprise, but there's no script, no cast, and no network backing. It could be just one of the thousands of projects from Hollywood hopefuls that never get off the ground.

And now, Bucari may not even have a place to film. He'd planned to do so in neighboring town Ridgefield -- just 20 miles from Newtown -- but their residents want nothing to do with the movie.

"I will do everything in my power to prevent this," Ridgefield councilman Rudy Marconi promised. "It's wrong."

If the cynics are correct that Bucari announced the scouting locations just for publicity's sake, it seems that he bit off more than he could chew. The resulting backlash caused him to take down the "Illness" Facebook page and his own Twitter account.

On a now-deleted posting, Bucari defended the project, saying, "We are not making a movie about what happened in Newtown and never will do so."

The Newtown tragedy has raised heated debates about gun control and mental illness. The shooter, Adam Lanza, is believed to have been mentally ill.

As the fundraising page for the movie claims, "We believe that everyone can relate to this film and that we can make an impact on mental illness."

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