Netflix has shelved a Prince docuseries directed by Ezra Edelman; as a substitute, a brand new, estate-approved documentary has been introduced.
Edelman’s docuseries had been within the works for 5 years, and was slated to have a nine-hour runtime throughout six elements. That includes footage from Prince’s archive, it was to incorporate interviews with lots of his buddies, collaborators, enterprise companions, and lovers. However not the entire challenge painted him in an excellent gentle — based on a New York Occasions Journal story from final 12 months, the sequence described alleged bodily and emotional abuse dedicated by the artist.
Initially, Edelman’s movie was authorized by the Prince property when it was underneath totally different illustration (a circumstance that arose out of his absence of a will). However because the property modified fingers in 2022, there had been an effort to drag the plug on the challenge. The aforementioned New York Occasions Journal article reported that the property felt the movie “misrepresented” Prince, triggering a “protracted battle” with Netflix.
Now, plainly battle has resulted in victory for the property — this week, they issued a joint assertion with Netflix saying, “The Prince Property and Netflix have come to a mutual settlement that may 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.”
Additional particulars on this “new documentary” are unknown at the moment, however the property did share a tweet on Thursday with the caption, “The Vault Has Been Freed,” and a quote from the artist, studying, “Regardless of the whole lot, nobody can dictate who you’re to different folks.”
Among the many controversial content material included within the docuseries by Edelman (who beforehand directed O.J.: Made in America) had been interviews allegedly describing the whole lot from controlling conduct to bodily violence, manipulation, the failure to correctly assist his then-wife Mayte Garcia after the dying of their little one, and extra.
Edelman’s documentary additionally included constructive remembrances of Prince, and sought to inform his story in a complete method, as tough a process because it was. Chatting with New York Occasions Journal, Edelman lamented, “How are you going to inform the reality about somebody who, if you’re speaking to folks, all of them had various things to say?”
The estate-approved documentary isn’t the one Prince movie on the best way; Ryan Coogler is hooked up as a producer for a jukebox musical film that includes the late artist’s music. In the meantime, this previous weekend, the musician was posthumously awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys.
The Vault Has Been Freed. #FREE pic.twitter.com/uvAbzEBbTc
— Prince (@prince) February 6, 2025
