‘We Need To Talk About Cosby’ Targets “Power Structures,” Docuseries Director W. Kamau Bell Says Ahead Of Sundance Premiere

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“The idea being if I’m to really learn the lessons of Bill Cosby then this is a part of that,” exclaims W. Kamau Bell of the trenchant We Need To Talk About Cosby. “This is about being smart, being aware, caring about your community,” adds the director of the four-episode docuseries set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22 and on Showtime on January 30.Already one of the most anticipated offerings of this year’s virtual SFF, We Need To Talk About Cosby paints on a very large canvas a portrait of the one-time imprisoned and convicted sex offender, the creation of his posture as “America’s Dad” decades ago and the contradictions that linger after two trials and Cosby’s early release last year.To that end, the United Shades of America host employs a number of circumspect techniques to tell the sometimes-sordid tale.

Bell also speaks to a sprawling array of journalists, cultural commentators, comedians, as well as survivors of sexual assault by Bill Cosby over the years.Based on what many have termed a technicality, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in June 2021 vacated Cosby’s 2018 conviction for the 2004 rape of Andrea Constand and the now 84-year old actor walked free.

Currently facing an effort by prosecutors to have the Supreme Court of the United States take up the matter and battling a number of civil suits, Cosby has been accused by more than 60 women of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery and other misconduct with some of these alleged crimes dating back nearly 60 years.Far from the slopes and coffee joints of Park City due to the latest Covid surge turning Sundance virtual again, Bell and I spoke about the making of We Need To Talk About Cosby, and the struggles he faced internally