Prince Documentary Director Speaks Out About Canceled Netflix Project: ‘It's a Joke'
After Netflix canceled his nine-hour Prince documentary, director Ezra Edelman is speaking out about 'The Book of Prince,' which was intended to be a six-part film about the late singer.
Last month, Netflix announced that it would not be moving forward with the doc, releasing a statement that it had agreed with the Prince estate to shelve Edelman's project in favor of developing a new one. Per sources close to the situation, Prince reps had previously claimed that a first cut of the movie was filled with 'dramatic' factual inaccuracies and 'sensationalized' renderings of certain events from his life.
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Edelman, who won an Oscar for his 2016 documentary 'O.J.: Made in America,' spoke candidly about the shelved doc during an interview with the 'Pablo Torre Finds Out' podcast, refuting the estate's claims that the film contained inaccuracies. 'I mean whatever, it's a joke,' he said. 'Here's the one thing they're allowed to do: check the film for factual inaccuracies. Guess what? They came back with a 17-page document full of editorial issues, not factual issues. You think I have any interest in putting out a film that's factually inaccurate?'
He elaborated by stating that the issues with the estate boiled down to control. 'This is reflective of Prince himself, who was notoriously [one of] the most famous control freaks in the history of artists,' he continued. 'The irony being that Prince was somebody that fought for artistic freedom, who didn't want to be held down by Warner Bros. who he believed was stifling his output. Now, in this case, it's like, by the way I'm not Prince, but I worked really hard making something and now my art's being stifled and thrown away.'
Edelman was tapped as a replacement for the original director, Ava DuVernay, after Netflix and representatives of Comerica Bank, the interim executor for Prince's estate, made a deal for the doc in 2018. He was given extensive access to Prince's archives and spent five years making a nine-hour version of the film.
'I'm like, this is a gift,' said Edelman. 'A nine-hour treatment about an artist who was by the way fucking brilliant. Everything about who you believe he is is in this movie. You get to bathe in his genius. And yet, you also have to confront his humanity.'
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