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."

It’s difficult to grasp that Amanda Knox was jailed for murder almost 20 years ago. The image that Knox conjures even today is one of a young American co-ed, clad in jeans and billowy skirts, winding the ancient paths of Perugia,

"She finally honors that young person that I was and the person I am today," Knox tells PEOPLE of the actress, who helped tell the story of her wrongful murder conviction