Ezra Edelman Talks Netflix Decision To Not Release Prince Documentary

“Why am I here?” asked Academy Award-winning documentarian Ezra Edelman on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast. He was there because of the Netflix decision to shelve the Prince documentary he worked on for five years. Edelman doesn’t participate in many interviews, however he felt it was important to talk about the streamer’s pivotal move.

The producer-director explained how he spent years exploring an untapped vault of information about the famously private musician. The task was to find out how the seven-time Grammy-winning artist, signed by Warner Bros. at age 18, came to die in “a box within box that he built himself.”

The Book of Prince focused on Prince’s undeniable talent, his complex humanity, and the “basic dichotomy of his art.” For Edelman, covering the truth meant bringing attention to allegations of the singer’s abuse. He wanted to fully capture the perfectionism and addiction that plagued the When Doves Cry artist.

According to Edelman, the estate responded to a viewing of the documentary with 17 pages of editorial issues. He commented that the estate acted with short-sightedness as an extension of Prince’s control. Edelman then spoke more broadly about the “sanitization” of an artist’s story, largely because of social media. He and Torre suggested talent nowadays has too much control over their portrayal.

Edelman doesn’t want sympathy, though he does grapple with the decision: “People’s films get shelved all the time… There’s no guarantee of anything ever. This is just unique because of the subject, the time, the high profile nature, all of these things. The public interest in some ways.”

Netflix made an agreement with the family to develop and produce a new documentary.