ELIZABETH S.JONES
A documentary on the life of Russell Brand is to air tonight at 9 p.m in the U.S, and anyone with a Show time subscription will get a chance to watch the documentary Russell Brand tried to block.
Brand: a second coming is the latest captivating documentary from director Ondi Timoner, a twice winner of the Sun dance Grand Jury Prize—for 2004’s DiG! and 2009’s We Live in Public.
The new film failed to receive wide reception in theaters, partly because of Brand’s lack of co-operation.
The controversial comedian was expected to show up on the red carpet at SXSW, but canceled his appearance at the last moment. In a statement posted on his website, Brand wrote, “My life was hard enough the first time ‘round and going through it again was painful and sad. I know Ondi is an artist and I’m told the film is good but for me watching it was very uncomfortable.”
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Brand hasn’t spoken with Timoner ever since, despite apologizing for any inconvenience caused resulting from his lack of co-operation.
Timoner told the Daily Beast, ”There is something very frustrating to me about about a person who thinks they know best to the level he does. Because that’s his Achilles heel. I always have to love my subjects, because if I don’t love them, you won’t love them. I’m going to show you every side of them. This is not a puff piece”.
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NUTS
“He drove me nuts those last couple of months before South by [Southwest], asking me to change things,” Timoner says. “And I changed the film from what I would have wanted to make to something he was more comfortable with. There were a few things where I just had to draw the line and say, ‘Russell, if I make these changes, it’s going to be a puff piece and it’s really not going to be taken seriously.’”
“That was just the beginning of the disappointment of our celebrity-based culture,” she says, noting that once Brand had removed himself from the promotion of the film, major distribution offers disappeared. “I thought it was a perfect marketing angle to say, ‘Hey, this is the film Russell Brand doesn’t want you to see.’”
“What if I made a movie about Down Syndrome?” she asks. “Then you wouldn’t care if there was a celebrity on the red carpet. This is a serious movie that stands on its own as a really interesting, provocative piece of entertainment,” she told Daily Beast.
“I’m very proud of it,” Timoner adds. “I think it’s a wonderful film and I just can’t believe the pain that I had to go through in him abandoning it.”
INTELLIGENCE
Timoner admits being blown away by his intelligence, but despises his request to take
over the est of the documentary. Brand at the time was preparing to write his Messiah complex comedy special where he compares himself to immortal heroes like Gandhi, Malcolm X and Mother Teresa.
She says he wanted to “bring about a global revolution of consciousness.” Timoner says his fame achieved him drugs and sex addiction, objects of happiness by our consumer culture. Brand married Katy Perry, but laster divorced her. He had everything that society tells us will make us happy, but came up empty according to her and was “seeking another way.”
Among the details of the film Brand opposed, were scenes featuring him fighting with his father. Timoner presents Brand as a man who only wants us to know his version of events, not the full truth about his life.
Timoner regrets taking certain bits out to suit Brand, though it is probably fair that a man keep certain aspects of their life private even in a documentary about themselves.
Brand wanted the footage of him standing naked on a police van during a London protest excised completely, but she got him to agree to have his genitals cropped out instead. Actually, she should have granted him his hearts desire, because footage of him naked was foolish and he should have been granted the right to reverse that indiscretion of his.
AUTHENTIC
All said and done, Timoner believes the finished film is an “authentic” portrayal of a man who “really does want to change the world.” But it could have shown an even more complete picture of the man.
“I think he’s a wonderful artist and an incredible spirit and intellect. I think my respect for him shines through in the film,” she says. “People leave the theater with so much more respect for him than they had in the first place.”
Had Brand chosen to support the film, it’s quite possible many more people would have gotten that chance. Major distributions disappeared once Brand removed himself from the film, she says.
“I’m very proud of it,” Timoner adds. “I think it’s a wonderful film and I just can’t believe the pain that I had to go through in him abandoning it.”
Brand is an unusual character with an interesting history. Brand’s child school love from school contacted The eye of media.com recently, pouring out her heart about the well known star in an interview to be published on this site in the next couple of days. It is a moving interview about a lady who clearly wants the best for Brand, and who has never been heard before.
Hopefully, the viewing public will take the best from the film in their evaluation of Brand. He is human like the rest of us and entitled to regrets or privacy about aspects of his life, just like the rest of us. It should be an interesting and revealing film to watch.
By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46370923
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