Photo Credit: Prince at Coachella 2008 by Scott Penner / CC by 2.0
Prince’s estate has officially pulled the plug on Ezra Edelman’s documentary about the late icon for Netflix, but plan to release their own instead.
The six part Prince documentary by filmmaker Ezra Edelman (“OJ: Made in America”) has been facing cancellation by the late icon’s estate since September, but now the project is officially dead in the water. Instead, the estate announced over the weekend that it’s planning to release its own documentary.
“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,” reads the statement. “As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released.”
The Edelman docuseries was said to have been nine hours long in six parts, and took the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker five years to make. He had originally struck up a deal with the estate that allowed him access to the late artist’s archives for the project.
But the resulting series reportedly included accounts from Prince’s ex-girlfriends, including Jill Jones, accusing him of physical and emotional abuse. Ultimately, the estate would not allow the series to move forward, putting the project in limbo for months before it was shelved.
According to the estate, the final cut of that project included “dramatic factual inaccuracies” and a “sensationalized” depiction of Prince’s life. This, they said, was in violation of Edelman’s previous agreement with the estate.
“We’re excited to have the right to put a plan together, which is exciting for the fans and his legacy,” said L. Londell McMillan, co-manager of Prince Legacy LLC. “Thankfully, we were able to reach an agreement with Netflix.”
McMillan added that the estate’s documentary will be “an in-depth piece that explores the complexities of the brilliant musical genius.”
It’s currently unknown when the new documentary will be released, but it sounds like a deal with Netflix is still in place.