Prince documentary director speaks out on Netflix cancellation: “It’s a joke”

nme.com:

Prince documentary has said it is a “joke” that Netflix chose to cancel the project.Last month, the streaming giant announced that a long-awaited nine-part series exploring the life and career of the music icon had been abandoned, in favour of a new “mutual agreement” with the Prince estate.

Instead, the new deal would allow Netflix to “develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive”.The director of the cancelled project, Ezra Edelman, who is best known for his work on the O.J.: Made In America documentary, has spoken out for the first time about the decision to shelve the series.During an appearance on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, he said: “It’s a joke… I can’t get past this – the short-sightedness of a group of people whose interest is their own bottom line.

They’re afraid of his humanity.”Edelman explained that he had been sent a list of editorial changes Prince’s representatives, which hampered his ability to tell the story as he wished. “You think I have any interest in putting out a film that is factually inaccurate?” he said.Addressing how he intended to balance his creative genius with personal insight, he added: “Everything about who you believe he is, is in this movie.

You get to bathe in his genius. And yet you have to confront his humanity. People had issues with how he treated people – he was emotionally abusive, he was physically abusive.”See clips from the podcast below.Oscar-winning director Ezra Edelman speaks for the first time about Netflix and Prince's estate mutually agreeing to not release his documentary."It's a joke. … I can't get past this — the short-sightedness of a group of people whose interest is their own bottom line.