Sasha Weiss

He's kind of this, like, in the cultural imagination, he is an avatar of gender-bending dreaminess, boundary-pushingness, breaking categories. Sensuality personified. Sensuality, sexiness, but a kind of uncategorizable sexiness. And I think for a lot of people, you know, he's at the top of the cultural pantheon. He's the icon of American pop music.

He was a beautiful singer. He could play a million instruments. I mean, his music is just transcendently great. Hits like... Kiss.

He was a beautiful singer. He could play a million instruments. I mean, his music is just transcendently great. Hits like... Kiss.

He was a world-eating genius. So it's like no subject could be as big, as mysterious, as fascinating as Prince. Say a word about mysterious. Well, I think Prince cultivated a kind of mystery, right? I mean, he seemed kind of saintly. He seemed spiritual. You know, he was someone who changed his name to a symbol without explanation. There was a performance of a kind of... Unknowability.

He was a world-eating genius. So it's like no subject could be as big, as mysterious, as fascinating as Prince. Say a word about mysterious. Well, I think Prince cultivated a kind of mystery, right? I mean, he seemed kind of saintly. He seemed spiritual. You know, he was someone who changed his name to a symbol without explanation. There was a performance of a kind of... Unknowability.

Unknowability. And then that was part of the allure and part of the mystique. Also, he was extremely elusive. So that was my interest in Prince. And the other thing that drew me to the film was the person making it. Ezra Edelman, who I really admired as a filmmaker. I think he's a once-in-a-generation talent. And I was really curious what it would be to see his mind tangling with Prince.

Unknowability. And then that was part of the allure and part of the mystique. Also, he was extremely elusive. So that was my interest in Prince. And the other thing that drew me to the film was the person making it. Ezra Edelman, who I really admired as a filmmaker. I think he's a once-in-a-generation talent. And I was really curious what it would be to see his mind tangling with Prince.

Hey, Ezra.

Hey, Ezra.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks for being here.

So I've gotten to know Ezra pretty well over the years of reporting this story, and we've talked a lot. He is extremely dogged and rigorous. He is extremely focused.

So I've gotten to know Ezra pretty well over the years of reporting this story, and we've talked a lot. He is extremely dogged and rigorous. He is extremely focused.

He's just very human, Ezra.

He's just very human, Ezra.

So Ezra started out in TV journalism and sports journalism especially. And eventually he started directing his own documentary films.

So Ezra started out in TV journalism and sports journalism especially. And eventually he started directing his own documentary films.

And he brings a lot of rigor and I would say also a lot of emotion and storytelling chops to these huge canvases that he takes on.

And he brings a lot of rigor and I would say also a lot of emotion and storytelling chops to these huge canvases that he takes on.

But maybe the best way to talk about his work is to talk about his best-known film on O.J. Simpson, O.J. Made in America, which comes out in 2016 to great acclaim on ESPN. It wins the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film that year.