Sasha Weiss

I think Ezra believes that for audiences to be given this like rich, chewy thing to engage with about this major icon would be satisfying for them.

I think Ezra believes that for audiences to be given this like rich, chewy thing to engage with about this major icon would be satisfying for them.

Yeah, I mean, I did often feel reporting this piece haunted by the presiding spirit of Prince and feeling like he was messing with all of us. So I think, yes, there's a kind of, you know, cruel poetry to it all. On the other hand, you know, Prince, at the end of his life, was opening up a little bit more. And the last hours of the film actually are about this.

Yeah, I mean, I did often feel reporting this piece haunted by the presiding spirit of Prince and feeling like he was messing with all of us. So I think, yes, there's a kind of, you know, cruel poetry to it all. On the other hand, you know, Prince, at the end of his life, was opening up a little bit more. And the last hours of the film actually are about this.

They're about a series of concerts that he gave, lo-fi, piano and a microphone, natural hair, where he was singing and talking and starting to talk about some of his pain, his childhood, his regrets, his loves. And it's still kind of veiled and perfumed, but it's more raw. And the style of performance is more raw. And he also was undertaking the writing of an autobiography.

They're about a series of concerts that he gave, lo-fi, piano and a microphone, natural hair, where he was singing and talking and starting to talk about some of his pain, his childhood, his regrets, his loves. And it's still kind of veiled and perfumed, but it's more raw. And the style of performance is more raw. And he also was undertaking the writing of an autobiography.

And there was something happening. I think he was changing.

And there was something happening. I think he was changing.

I think in some sense. I mean, look, probably on his own terms. But there's the question of what Prince would have wanted. And then there's also the question of like what's good for the culture in some way and what's good for the legacy of a person like Prince.

I think in some sense. I mean, look, probably on his own terms. But there's the question of what Prince would have wanted. And then there's also the question of like what's good for the culture in some way and what's good for the legacy of a person like Prince.

And actually, after the news of the film being finally killed broke, Jill Jones, who's the girlfriend that I was talking about before, who was one of the people who appears in the film talking about Prince's abuse of her was a lot of pain. Right. posted something that I thought was incredibly moving about what's wrong with this film not coming out. She was very in favor of the film coming out.

And actually, after the news of the film being finally killed broke, Jill Jones, who's the girlfriend that I was talking about before, who was one of the people who appears in the film talking about Prince's abuse of her was a lot of pain. Right. posted something that I thought was incredibly moving about what's wrong with this film not coming out. She was very in favor of the film coming out.

Well, let me read you a little bit of it because I think she says it really beautifully. So she says, "...Prince was a man who lived under the weight of expectation, both his own and those of the world that adored him." He built a persona so larger than life that it became a prison, a gilded cage, one he could never fully step out of.

Well, let me read you a little bit of it because I think she says it really beautifully. So she says, "...Prince was a man who lived under the weight of expectation, both his own and those of the world that adored him." He built a persona so larger than life that it became a prison, a gilded cage, one he could never fully step out of.

He knew that revealing his true self, stripped of the carefully crafted persona, would lead to rejection. And in a way, he was right. The recent choices made by Netflix and his estate only reinforced this truth. The world is unwilling to accept Prince as a man, only as a myth. Without the elaborate stagecraft, without the veil of mystery, his raw humanity is deemed insufficient.

He knew that revealing his true self, stripped of the carefully crafted persona, would lead to rejection. And in a way, he was right. The recent choices made by Netflix and his estate only reinforced this truth. The world is unwilling to accept Prince as a man, only as a myth. Without the elaborate stagecraft, without the veil of mystery, his raw humanity is deemed insufficient.

His struggles, his journey, his sacrifices, all the elements that shaped him will remain obscured. Instead, the world will most likely receive a sanitized, polished version of Prince, in quotation marks, a carefully curated illusion that erases the depth of his reality.

His struggles, his journey, his sacrifices, all the elements that shaped him will remain obscured. Instead, the world will most likely receive a sanitized, polished version of Prince, in quotation marks, a carefully curated illusion that erases the depth of his reality.

I thought that was something really extraordinary coming from someone who had been hurt by Prince, who saw some of the worst of Prince. But she can hold that against, A, his greatness, but B, these sort of layers of pain that prevented him from being known. And she's saying, like, let's look at the whole thing because that's the way to really appreciate who this man was.

I thought that was something really extraordinary coming from someone who had been hurt by Prince, who saw some of the worst of Prince. But she can hold that against, A, his greatness, but B, these sort of layers of pain that prevented him from being known. And she's saying, like, let's look at the whole thing because that's the way to really appreciate who this man was.