Producer Glen Zipper On His Cannes Premiere Doc ‘Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes,’ Upcoming John Candy Film, And Soaring With ‘The Blue Angels’

deadline.com:

Cannes is not lacking for glamor this year, even in the documentary lineup. Among the films premiering at the festival is Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes, an HBO feature documentary directed by Nanette Burstein and produced by J.J.

Abrams, Glen Zipper, Sean M. Stuart, and Bill Gerber. The documentary draws on conversations with the star recorded decades ago for an autobiography. “Entirely through the efforts of the [Taylor] estate, they were able to track those tapes down and reclaim them,” Zipper explained in an interview just before he flew to Cannes. “I remember getting an email from one of the trustees of the estate of a picture of the tapes in a box on a private jet on their way back to Los Angeles, strapped in with a seatbelt.” Zipper tells Deadline his production company, Zipper Bros Films, brought Burstein onto the project, a filmmaker known for Hulu’s 2020 docuseries about Hillary Clinton, as well as The Kid Stays in the Picture, and Oscar-nominated On the Ropes (the latter two films co-directed by Brett Morgen). “I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic when I say she’s a top five documentary filmmaker in the world,” Zipper said. “And she seized on those tapes and she determined that we don’t need to do any interviews for this film and we don’t need to hear third-party present-day hearsay witnesses speaking to her legacy when she can tell the story herself in her own voice.” Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes premieres Thursday as part of the festival’s Cannes Classics section (it releases on HBO August 3). “I think people are going to become acquainted with Elizabeth Taylor in a way they haven’t before,” Zipper said. “Over time, when someone is as iconic as Elizabeth Taylor, they unavoidably become somewhat of a