Martha Stewart made history as America’s first self-made female billionaire. And then she went to prison. It’s about time that the iconic lifestyle mogul has landed her own documentary. Now, with famed filmmaker R.J. Cutler (“The September Issue,” “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry”) at the helm, Stewart’s life and legacy is being brought to the screen.
Academy Award-nominated and Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning director Cutler is more than familiar with capturing elusive titans: He previously directed the definitive Anna Wintour and Vogue documentary “The September Issue.”
Netflix documentary “Martha” marks the first time that Stewart has fully revisited her past on-camera. The film‘s official synopsis reads: “Through intimate and revealing interviews with the icon herself and those from her inner circle, R.J. Cutler’s definitive documentary on Martha Stewart traces her rise from teenage model to her reign as the original influencer and America’s first self-made female billionaire.”
From her marriage to college sweetheart Andy Stewart — and subsequent divorce — to her five-month prison stint in 2004 and later, her collaborations with Snoop Dogg, “Martha” presents a “before” and an “after” Stewart, according to Kate Erbland’s IndieWire review.
“The film is loosely divided into two parts, one taking us through Stewart’s early life, education, marriage, divorce, and tremendous professional success, the other following her through the 2004 trial that sent her to prison for five months and everything that happened after that,” the review reads. “Stewart is clearly a genius, and ‘Martha’ makes that plain, showing off her business acumen at every stage along the way.”
The review continues, “It wasn’t just her ideas around what her brand could be (heck, what a ‘brand’ in general could be!) or her savvy take on the marketplace (her choice to take her wares to K-Mart was met with both derision and then big, big bucks) that made her stand out, that made her America’s first self-made female billionaire. She was also, as some of those unseen talking heads tell us, ‘a great white shark,’ ‘a bitch,’ and someone who would have been viewed far more favorably, had she been a man.
“Martha” is produced by Cutler, Jane Cha Cutler, Alino Cho, and Trevor Smith. The film debuted at Telluride and later opened the 2024 Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF).
“Martha” will start streaming on Wednesday, October 30 on Netflix. Check out the trailer below.
