James R | On 12, Oct 2017

Netflix has released a trailer for its upcoming documentary about Joan Didion.

Across more than 50 years of essays, novels, screenplays, and criticism, Joan Didion has been one of America’s premier chroniclers of the ebb and flow of the country’s cultural and political tides with observations on upheavals, downturns, life changes, and states of mind. Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold sees actor and director Griffin Dunne unearth a treasure trove of archival footage and talk at length to his “Aunt Joan” about the eras she covered and the eventful life she’s lived, including partying with Janis Joplin in a house full of L.A. rockers; hanging in a recording studio with Jim Morrison; and cooking dinner for one of Charles Manson’s women for a magazine story.

Didion guides us through the sleek literati scene of New York in the 1950s and early ’60s, when she wrote for Vogue; her return to her home state of California for two turbulent decades; the writing of her seminal books, including Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It as It Lays, A Book of Common Prayer, and The White Album; her film scripts, including The Panic in Needle Park; her view of 1980s and ’90s political personalities; and the meeting of minds that was her long marriage to writer John Gregory Dunne. She reflects on writing about her reckoning with grief after Dunne’s death, in The Year of Magical Thinking (winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction), and the death of their daughter Quintana Roo, in Blue Nights.

The documentary will be released worldwide on the streaming service on Friday 27th October. Here’s the trailer:

 

 

Gay Talese and Joan Didion to feature in two Netflix docs

24th August 2017

Joan Didion and Gay Talese will be the subjects of two new Netflix documentaries, premiering later this year.

The streaming giant has ordered two original films, Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold and Voyeur.

Across more than 50 years of essays, novels, screenplays, and criticism, Joan Didion has been a leading chronicler of the ebb and flow of America’s cultural and political tides, with observations on her personal upheavals, downturns, life changes, and states of mind.

The documentary will see actor and director Griffin Dunne unearth a treasure trove of archival footage and talk at length to his “Aunt Joan” about the eras she covered and the eventful life she’s lived, including partying with Janis Joplin in a house full of L.A. rockers; hanging in a recording studio with Jim Morrison; and cooking dinner for one of Charles Manson’s women for a magazine story. Didion guides us through the sleek literati scene of New York in the 1950s and early ’60s, when she wrote for Vogue; her return to her home state of California for two turbulent decades; the writing of her seminal books, including Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album; her film scripts, including The Panic in Needle Park; her view of 1980s and ’90s political personalities; and the meeting of minds that was her long marriage to writer John Gregory Dunne.

“How does one capture such a celebrated and prolific author while delivering something new for audiences to engage with?,” asks Lisa Nishimura, VP of Original Documentaries. “Griffin does a superb job of bringing us into intimate, one on one conversations with his ‘Aunt Joan’, examining how her struggle shaped her work, and how her work helped shape American culture.”

“It is a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to convey the life and work of my aunt, and literary icon, Joan Didion,” adds director Griffin Dunne. “This documentary is a true labor of love and to partner with Netflix, who will help bring this to a global audience, is more than I could have hoped for when I started on this over 5 years ago. And to world premiere at NYFF, is just the icing on the cake.”

Voyeur follows Gay Talese – the 84-year-old giant of modern journalism – as he reports one of the most controversial stories of his career: a portrait of a Colorado motel owner, Gerald Foos.

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