Prince documentary filmmaker Ezra Edelman seethes over the scrapped Netflix challenge: ‘It is a joke’

Ezra Edelman compares his nine-hour Prince documentary canceled by Netflix to Indiana Jones' prized Ark of the Covenant: misplaced to the world.

"The picture I've had in my head is the final shot of Raiders of the Misplaced Ark: of simply an enormous warehouse someplace in Netflix, a crate simply, like, put away," Edelman, who won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for 2016's O.J.: Made in America, stated Tuesday on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast.

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The director made it clear that he's a fan of "The Purple One," who died in 2016, however he additionally needed to point out the "Little Purple Corvette" singer's "humanity." The challenge, which featured interviews with greater than 70 individuals and included descriptions of bodily and psychological abuse in his relationships, in response to New York Times Journal Deputy Editor Sasha Weiss, who is without doubt one of the few individuals to have seen the movie.

"Like most Individuals who grew up within the Nineteen Eighties, I had a picture of Prince emblazoned in my thoughts: splendidly unusual; a gender-bending, dreamy grasp of funk," Weiss wrote in her article "The Prince We By no means Knew" printed in September 2024. "He flouted and floated above all classes and gave permission to generations of children to do the identical. Edelman’s movie deepened these impressions, whereas on the identical time eradicating Prince’s many veils. This creature of pure intercourse and mischief and silky ambiguity, I now noticed, was additionally darkish, vindictive and unhappy. This artist who liberated so many may very well be pathologically managed and controlling. The movie is usually uncomfortable to look at. However then, all the time, there’s aid: the miracle of Prince’s music."

When Edelman joined the challenge, the outlet reported, he was assured that he and the streamer would have closing say on the content material of the documentary, whereas Prince's property "might overview the movie for factual accuracy."

Edelman claims that's not what occurred.

"It's a joke. The property had — right here’s the one factor they have been allowed to do: Verify the movie for factual inaccuracies. Guess what? They got here again with a 17-page doc stuffed with editorial points — not factual points," Edelman advised Torre, who has additionally seen the movie. "You suppose I’ve any curiosity in placing out a movie that’s factually inaccurate?"

"The lawyer who runs the property basically stated he believed that this is able to do generational hurt to Prince," Edelman continued. "In essence, that the portrayal of Prince on this movie — what individuals study him — would deter youthful viewers and followers, doubtlessly, from loving Prince. They might be turned off."

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Netflix and Prince's property launched a joint assertion final month with their reasoning: "The Prince Property and Netflix have come to a mutual settlement that can enable the property to develop and produce a brand new documentary that includes unique content material from Prince's archive. Because of this, the Netflix documentary is not going to be launched."

Edelman stated this combat is one which Prince would have had.

"That is reflective of Prince himself, who was notoriously one of the well-known management freaks within the historical past of artists. The irony being that Prince was someone who fought for creative freedom, who didn't wish to be held down by Warner Bros., who he believed was stifling his output," Edelman stated. "I'm not Prince, however I labored actually onerous making one thing, and now my artwork's being stifled and thrown away."

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The filmmaker actually believed he had created one thing followers would embrace, a candid image of an iconic entertainer.

"I'm like, 'This can be a reward — a nine-hour therapy about an artist that was, by the way in which, f—ing good.' All the things about who you imagine he’s is on this film. You get to wash in his genius. And but you additionally need to confront his humanity, which he, by the way in which, in some methods, was trapped in not having the ability to expose as a result of he obtained trapped in his personal delusion about who he was to the world, and he needed to keep it."

EW has reached out to Netflix for remark.

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