Given the success of the New York Times and Hulu documentary Framing Britney Spears earlier this month, the #FreeBritney movement has never been more visible, and with reports that Netflix are now planning their own Britney doc too, it’s an issue that’s not going away anytime soon.
Not much is yet known about Netflix’s offering, but it’s definitely in the works according to sources at the streaming platform, reports Bloomberg. Netflix insiders told the publication that the upcoming documentary is set to be directed by filmmaker Erin Lee Carr, who specialises in true crime stories told through the lens of femininity and virality. Her best known films include Mommy Dead and Dearest, which chronicles the story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy who was sentenced to 10 years for the murder of her mother Dee Dee; and I Love You Now Die, about the trial and incarceration of Michelle Carter, sentenced to two and a half years for involuntary manslaughter after her boyfriend, Conrad Roy, committed suicide.
The title of Erin’s Britney doc has not been revealed, and nor has the release date or the focus of the film (although it makes sense that it would explore Britney’s stratospheric rise to fame and her controversial conservatorship). Netflix sources were quick to point out though, that their documentary was already in the works well before Framing Britney Spears was released. You know how it is though. You wait 20 years for a film exonerating a woman vilified by the press for no reason and then two come along at once! Hate it when that happens.