A solid documentary needs a director who won't put their personal "woke" spin on it, like (even though I love the guy) Spike Lee or Ava Duvernay...

Hire a capable and experienced director/music documentarist with no emotional connection to Prince who is willing to present something insightful and professional instead of some emo "friend of Prince who happens to be a director" kind of affair who will forget it's a documentary about "Prince"...
Keep it classy and professional...

So I would go for:

Martin Scorsese...

Simply because he is more than capable and the only minor connection he has with Prince is when Prince asked him to direct "Under The Cherry Moon" and he declined the offer in the most mature and classy way... He doesn't have an agenda regarding Prince...

Neversin.

[Edited 8/23/19 8:41am]

I'm not saying I want him to be the director but what about...Tim Burton.

Apollo85 said:

I'm not saying I want him to be the director but what about...Tim Burton.

good one for me! he would be able to keep the mystery alive ...

Spike Lee is the first choice. George Lucas is my second choice.

I'm going to try to avoid the big names.

Amir Bar-Lev: Did a fantastic 4 hour documentary on The Grateful Dead. His entire body of work is either documentaries or relief concerts. I feel like he could really do the subject justice without injecting his own politics or focusing on the more scandalous parts of Prince's life. He'd be my number one pick.

Ondi Timoner: She has a more raw approach to documentaries but DiG! is one of the best music related documentaries ever released. It'd be interesting to see what she could put together out of archive material. Probably not flashy enough for Netflix though.

Kevin Smith.

Neversin said:

donnyenglish said:

Spike Lee is the first choice. George Lucas is my second choice.

Yes

EmmaMcG said:

Neversin said:

A solid documentary needs a director who won't put their personal "woke" spin on it, like (even though I love the guy) Spike Lee or Ava Duvernay...

Hire a capable and experienced director/music documentarist with no emotional connection to Prince who is willing to present something insightful and professional instead of some emo "friend of Prince who happens to be a director" kind of affair who will forget it's a documentary about "Prince"...
Keep it classy and professional...

So I would go for:

Martin Scorsese...

Simply because he is more than capable and the only minor connection he has with Prince is when Prince asked him to direct "Under The Cherry Moon" and he declined the offer in the most mature and classy way... He doesn't have an agenda regarding Prince...

Neversin.

[Edited 8/23/19 8:41am]

Yeah, pretty much what I said. You worded it better though

depends ... is it gonna be his WHOLE life or is it gonna do like most and act like he didn't do anything significant after 1988, skip the 90s go straight to 2004 then his death

Martin Scorcese.

CynicKill said:

Martin Scorcese.

EmmaMcG said:

I think whoever gets the job should NOT be a super Prince fan because that way we'll only get the story told from a certain point of view. We don't need another puff piece. Given that Spike Lee was a good friend of Prince, I would rule him out straight away. My personal choice would be Martin Scorsese. He has a decent history with music docs and he's an incredible film maker, possibly the best of all time. His perceived lack of Prince knowledge wouldn't be an issue because if he sets his mind on a project then he goes all in with his preparation. And as an added bonus, he would more than likely tell the Prince story from an unbiased perspective.

Great choice

Spike Lee, George Lucas or Martin Scorsese would be my top choices.

I want a well rounded, well informed documentary, not just some fluff piece or act like it has to center mostly around Purple Rain. I want it to focus on his entire life from the early years until his untimely death. Also hopefully they can interview as many people as possible who has worked with him over the years. Something he would be proud of and so will the fans.

Spike, not just because of his obvious love for Prince but also because he's made some of my favorite documentaries, i like his docus better than his films. Funny thing was, Spike used to talk shit about Prince when he was young, back when he was against pretty much everything and anything.

Can't think of anyone else offhand that I think could do Prince justice.

Apollo85 said:

I'm not saying I want him to be the director but what about...Tim Burton.

has tim ever done a docu? that might be interesting. Tim has an obsession with misfits and wierdos and Prince was right up his alley.

Strive said:

I'm going to try to avoid the big names.

Amir Bar-Lev: Did a fantastic 4 hour documentary on The Grateful Dead. His entire body of work is either documentaries or relief concerts. I feel like he could really do the subject justice without injecting his own politics or focusing on the more scandalous parts of Prince's life. He'd be my number one pick.

Ondi Timoner: She has a more raw approach to documentaries but DiG! is one of the best music related documentaries ever released. It'd be interesting to see what she could put together out of archive material. Probably not flashy enough for Netflix though.

i really don't see how scorcese and lucas could do any kind of a good job, they're too far away from the subject. Spike would do best and i'm sure he's thought of it. Spike does balanced docus, some of the best i ever saw. So, I have to say, I can't see how anyone can do a good documentary if they don't have some sort of interest, or knowledge of their subject. Scorcese would be coming in cold and then there is the racial aspect. Scorcese didn't like boxing and he did a great boxing film but he had a good supporting team and even still, not everyone likes raging bull, criticizing it for being slow paced.

Really? as I understand it,Spike was always a huge fan.I've never heard about him saying anything negative.

PeteSilas said:

Funny thing was, Spike used to talk shit about Prince when he was young, back when he was against pretty much everything and anything.

SoulAlive said:

Really? as I understand it,Spike was always a huge fan.I've never heard about him saying anything negative.

PeteSilas said:

Funny thing was, Spike used to talk shit about Prince when he was young, back when he was against pretty much everything and anything.

ya, i think i have the article, he was talking shit about prince using "Ooooeee ooooo oooo ooo" from wizard of oz because he was also using it for a song in School Daze. Doesn't mean anything, Spike was young and against everyone, eddie, arsenio, probably whoopie and whitney too, it's the overcompensation and insecurity of youth. He has said in recent years "i haven't been that guy for 25 years".

no one poltical... based on some of her work (which is great for what it is) I am kind of glad she is out... and Hell Not to Spike Lee. No No No!


Maybe the guy that did the U2 movie? or how about Albert Magnoli?

PeteSilas said:

Strive said:

I'm going to try to avoid the big names.

Amir Bar-Lev: Did a fantastic 4 hour documentary on The Grateful Dead. His entire body of work is either documentaries or relief concerts. I feel like he could really do the subject justice without injecting his own politics or focusing on the more scandalous parts of Prince's life. He'd be my number one pick.

Ondi Timoner: She has a more raw approach to documentaries but DiG! is one of the best music related documentaries ever released. It'd be interesting to see what she could put together out of archive material. Probably not flashy enough for Netflix though.

i really don't see how scorcese and lucas could do any kind of a good job, they're too far away from the subject. Spike would do best and i'm sure he's thought of it. Spike does balanced docus, some of the best i ever saw. So, I have to say, I can't see how anyone can do a good documentary if they don't have some sort of interest, or knowledge of their subject. Scorcese would be coming in cold and then there is the racial aspect. Scorcese didn't like boxing and he did a great boxing film but he had a good supporting team and even still, not everyone likes raging bull, criticizing it for being slow paced.

What did I miss here?

Ken Burns should do a multi-part 1 week long doc.

ufoclub said:

Ken Burns should do a multi-part 1 week long doc.

Strangely I could see this working.

Ken Burns is thorough.

Why not Albert Magnoli?

He has done a great job in the past (Purple Rain, the 1989 documentary etc). He knows a lot of inside stuff.

I say, he fits the profile!

Doc.

CynicKill said:

ufoclub said:

Ken Burns should do a multi-part 1 week long doc.

Strangely I could see this working.

Ken Burns is thorough.

ken is good but what you guys might be missing is that a documentarian usually has a passion and an interest in his subject, without that, what do we have. Ken may or may not know one thing about Prince, do you want someone who has none of the knowledge that even us fans have garnered over 30+ years trying to make a docu? It doesn't have to be bad but.., I know as a fan of boxing that when someone who doesn't know boxing writes a bio it usually is loaded with mistakes and misperceptions from a sports perspective although it may be informative on a person's life. Little thing maybe but it does bother me when someone calls a left hook a right hook etc..,