It’s really starting to sound like that secret, nine-hour, six-part documentary on Prince isn’t happening after all.
Wait, since when is there a secret, nine-hour, six-part documentary on Prince and why am I just hearing about this only to be immensely disappointed? Why the fuck would you show me something if I couldn’t have it? Our questions exactly.
As it turns out, Ezra Edelman, the director of the Oscar-winning “O.J.: Made in America,” has been quietly working on an epic documentary project about Prince for the last four years for Netflix. The project has never been formally announced, but Variety way back in 2018 reported something was happening on the late music icon. Ava DuVernay was even originally attached to direct.
But now it seems to be falling apart at the one-yard line, even after some insiders have already screened the film. As Puck first reported earlier this week, Netflix is now doing damage control with Prince’s estate, who don’t appear to be fans of the film, or specifically its nine-hour length.
According to Puck, the estate is arguing there are things that are inaccurate about the film, not even about any revelations of sexual exploits or drug use, but are just protective of his legacy, while Netflix believes it’s a control issue with the current executors and are hopeful it will be resolved eventually.
Prince, who died in 2016, did so without a will, making the fight over his estate an ongoing headache. The current estate is divided in half, and the people who originally greenlit the Prince documentary aren’t even the same ones who are its current executors. Not only that, Netflix’s unscripted chief Brandon Riegg and documentary leader Adam Del Deo inherited the project from Lisa Nishimura.
Variety drove the nail in the coffin a bit more on Thursday, saying the project is “dead in the water” and that it has “dramatic” and “sensationalized” inaccuracies about Prince, a surprise given Edelman’s pedigree, who Variety said is “devastated” by the turn of events. They’re even reportedly considering withholding music rights, which sound like a pretty important thing to have in a nine-hour rock doc about Prince.
Netflix did not respond to IndieWire’s request for comment on the status of the project.
