What is Ezra Edelman’s Prince documentary about? Netflix controversy explained

Ezra Edelman, the director behind the impeccable O.J.: Made in America, has made a nine-hour Prince documentary for Netflix, but it looks like it won’t be seeing the light of day – at least not anytime soon.  

Streaming services pump out stacks of new documentaries each month, the latest hits including Netflix’s true crime deep dive into the Laci and Scott Peterson case and Michael Bay’s Born Evil series on serial killer Hadden Clark. 

However, O.J.: Made in America is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of work. Widely regarded to be one of the most ambitious documentaries ever made, the 7.5 hour series won an Oscar at the 89th Academy Awards, telling the story of the football player’s life while touching on themes of race and celebrity. 

So, it’s no surprise that when Netflix wanted to pursue a docu-series on the famed late singer Prince, the streamer approached Edelman. What followed was five years of blood, sweat, and tears, but now it appears the finished product is stuck in limbo. 

Prince documentary plot

Through extensive research, dozens of interviews, and exclusive access to Prince’s personal archive, known as “the vault,” Ezra Edelman’s nine-hour documentary for Netflix pulls the curtain back on Prince and offers unrivaled insight into his life on and off the stage.

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The New York Times has published a new deep dive into the docu-series, revealing further detail about its contents. It spoke of the vault, a room in the basement of Prince’s home and studio Paisley Park, which is filled with unreleased recordings and concert footage, as well as drawings and photos.

The report describes how Prince, full name Prince Rogers Nelson, was mysterious in real life and rarely sat for interviews, culminating in his death in April 2016 from a fentanyl overdose, despite “always seemed to disdain drugs and alcohol.”

“Access to the vault presented a chance to tell a more detailed story about Prince than had emerged before,” it said. However, it soon became clear that even the contents of the vault were curated, with one of the two main editors, Bret Granato, telling the outlet it wasn’t “all that different from an Instagram account or a Facebook page.” 

The best, most telling reveals were from the 70 interviews Edelman and his team conducted for the Netflix docu-series, including with his past muses and girlfriends, one of the most damning being with Jill Jones. 

In it, she describes an incident in 1984 when Prince invited her and her friend to a hotel. He started kissing the friend in front of Jones, so she slapped him, to which he allegedly said, “B*tch, this ain’t no [expletive] movie.” It’s reported that he began to “punch her in the face over and over.”

These moments are cut between examples of Prince’s songwriting genius, while also demonstrating his troubled upbringing, where he experienced emotional abuse and never let go of yearning for approval from his father. 

As stated by Sasha Weiss, one of a select few people who attended a preview screening of the documentary, “Edelman manages to present a deeply flawed person while still granting him his greatness – and his dignity.” However, the project has been plagued by issues ever since.

Netflix doc’s controversy explained 

Despite the years of work that went into creating the docu-series, the title is now being stalled by Prince’s estate, and there are fears it may never be released. Part of the reason being that the ‘Purple Rain’ singer-songwriter never wrote a will. 

While his estate was divided among his sister, Tyka, and five half-siblings, the situation was “chaos.” When Netflix approached Edelman, it had negotiated a deal with the estate, which a court had placed under the administration of Comerica Bank & Trust. 

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But in 2022, this all changed. A Minnesota court divided Prince’s assets between music company Primary Wave, Prince Legacy LLC, made up of three heirs and lawyer L. Londell McMillan, and music producer Charles Spicer.

Firstly, the newly-owned estate cut off Edelman’s access to the vault. Then, in 2022, representatives were shown the first part of the documentary, presenting Prince in his early years. The filmmaker told The New York Times they weren’t happy with the “content and tone.”

In 2023, another issue arrived when Lisa Nishimura, the Netflix boss who negotiated the original deal, was laid off. When it came time to show the estate the finished project, McMillan is said to have replied with 17 pages of notes and changes, later telling Edelman he believed it “would do generational harm to Prince.”

Weiss continued, “Several people I spoke to said they believe McMillan’s objections come down to a fear that the film will get Prince ‘canceled’ and devalue the estate’s bottom line.” But the biggest issue appears to be its length. 

According to reports, part of the original deal with Netflix stipulates that the docu-series be no longer than six hours in length, but when Edelman was asked about whether this is true, he said he’s not able to comment at this time. 

A Netflix spokesperson did offer the following statement when asked about the doc: “This documentary project has proved every bit as complex as Prince himself.

“We have meticulously archived Prince’s life and worked hard to support Ezra’s series. But there are still meaningful contractual issues with the estate that are holding up a documentary release.”

All of this means that the docu-series is at risk of never being seen, with the streamer unable to comment on whether this is true either. As stated by Weiss, “Through some grim cosmic poetry, it, too, remains locked in the vault.”

For more documentary news, find out if Born Evil’s Kristin Bluefin is a real person, what you need to know about the Menendez brothers ahead of Monster Season 2, and what happened to Worst Ex Ever’s Mei and Rosa.