Netflix Wants Nine-Hour Prince Documentary Reduced to Six Hours

Prince, one of the most fascinating, exciting, and eccentric musicians in American popular music history, is the subject of an eagerly awaited documentary about his life and career. The only question now is how long the final cut will be.

Back in 2018, it was announced that Selma director Ava DuVernay was working on a documentary for Netflix about The Purple One. “The only way I know how to make this film is with love. And with great care,” she tweeted at the time. “I’m honored to do so and grateful for the opportunity entrusted to me by the estate.”

Since then, DuVernay has left the project, and filmmaker Ezra Edelman, who won an Oscar for 2016’s O.J.: Made in America, stepped in as the new director. According to Puck, Edelman completed his cut of the film “a while back,” so what’s causing the delay in its release?

It appears that Prince’s estate isn’t happy with the documentary. “It’s unclear what exactly peeves them,” Puck reports, “but one source insists it’s not revelations of drug use or sexual stuff. Instead, the estate argues there are things in the film that are inaccurate.”

Another issue is the current length of the documentary, which allegedly runs for nine hours, whereas Netflix requested it to be six hours long. Until a compromise is reached, the film remains in limbo.

For reference, the Eagles documentary was four hours long, and this one is somewhere between six and nine hours. If this trend continues, a Fleetwood Mac documentary might have to be 12 hours, and who wouldn’t watch every second of it?

Source: Puck