Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…for some good news/bad news. The bad news for Prince fans is that Netflix has pulled a planned six-part documentary on the rock icon. However, the good news is that this is because his estate will be making its own in-depth retrospective documentary using exclusive, rarely seen footage from the late musician’s archive. According to Deadline, Prince’s estate and Netflix came to a mutual decision and agreed that the streamer would pull their series to allow for his estate’s newly developed project.
The Netflix docuseries was directed by Ezra Edelman. However, both Netflix and Prince’s estate announced in a joint statement,
The Prince Estate and Netflix have come to a mutual agreement that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive. As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released.”
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The estate would then follow that statement up on social media, saying, “the vault has been freed.” Then, they quoted from the man himself, “Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people.” They would add in the clip, which was set to his 1982 track “Free”: “The truth is, you are either here to enlighten or discourage.” Edelman’s project had been stuck in legal complications after it took almost five years to complete. Although Netflix and Edelman retained final cut on the doc, also by using materials from the archive, the estate reviewed the project for its factual accuracy. As the estate gained new representation in recent years, they has blocked the Netflix series from release.
Another Prince project was announced last year as Sinners director Ryan Coogler has been attached to a Prince jukebox musical. This Prince jukebox musical has actually been in the works for several years now, first coming to our attention in 2018. There, too, was a planned documentary on His Royal Badness from Ava DuVernay, but she left over “creative differences.” Prince died in 2016 at the age of 57 from an accidental fentanyl overdose.
Prince had his first gold record with 1979’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” hitting #1 five years later with back-to-back hits “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy,” solidifying himself as one of the most popular and best-selling artists ever. And who can forget the Batdance?!
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