Most business tycoons speak in platitudes – boring, ordinary, stale – when speaking to journalists on the record. It can be impossible to get them to say what they really think, and if they accidentally leave out something colorful, a saw-toothed publicist inevitably arrives to try to clean it up.
But not Martha Stewart. As a media savant, she can understand that shocking candor cuts through the clutter and listen to him. Or maybe, at 83, he has nothing else left to give.
Still, I was totally unprepared for my recent phone interview with her. I called up to discuss her experience with documentarian RJ Cutler, whose “Martha” documentary arrives on Netflix on Wednesday after playing on the fall festival circuit. I thought our conversation would last for 10 minutes. She would say one positive thing and one negative thing and go back to making TikToks with Snoop Dogg.
There was continuous sharp criticism for about 30 minutes. “RJ had full access, and he actually used very little,” she said, referring to his collection. “It was just shocking,
After a few failed attempts at asking a question, I decided it was best to stay out of his way. Below are some of the things he is upset about (some have been lightly edited for clarity).
Cutler declined to comment on specific points. He said, “I'm really proud of this film and I admire Martha's courage in entrusting me with making it.” “I'm not surprised it's hard for him to see aspects of it.”
He further added, “This is a film, not a Wikipedia page. This is the story of an incredibly interesting human being who is complex, visionary and brilliant.
In Stewart's view, the second half of the film is “a bit lazy”.
“That last scene in which I looked like a lonely old lady walking hunched over in a garden? Boy, I told him to get rid of them. And he refused. I Hatred That last scene. hate them.”
“My Achilles tendon was ruptured. I had to have this disgusting operation. And so I was limping a little. But then, they also didn't explain why that was the case – that I could survive despite this and still work seven days a week.
He called the music “lousy”.
“I said to RJ, 'An essential part of the movie is that you play rap music.' Probably Dr. Dre, or Snoop or Fredwreck would score it. I said, 'I want that music.' And then he gets some cheesy classical score in there, which has nothing to do with me. (Cutler added Snoop Dogg's “Beautiful” to the end credits after Stewart saw an incomplete cut of the film.)
He said Cutler chose an unpleasant camera angle.
“He had three cameras on me. And he chooses to use the ugliest angle. And I told him, 'Don't use that angle! That's not the best angle. You had three cameras. Use another angle.' That won't change it.”
He argued that what made his magazine special was lost.
“My magazine, my Martha Stewart magazine, which you could call traditional, was the most modern home magazine ever created. We had pioneer photography. nobody Have you ever shown puff pastry the way I did? Or the vocabulary of apple and chrysanthemum. And we were very proud of all that modernity. And he got none of it.”
“Where are my grandchildren?” He was amazed.
“There is no mention at all. And these are the grandchildren Absolutely fantastic. My daughter was strongly against the inclusion of children. But I could talk about them and I did. I've taken them to the most unusual places in the world, and they're only 12 and 13 years old. My love for traveling was not mentioned. My trip to Kilimanjaro was not mentioned!”
Colorful anecdotes were left out, he said, including the lawyer's manner alan dershowitz In the 1960s, when he was first married, he used to flirt with her.
“He might be dribbling on the table. That was the fun part, all of these stories. RJ did not find anything like this in the film. you can imagine,
In contrast, the documentary spends “too much time” on it. 2004 test And a prison sentence, he said.
“It wasn't that important. The trial and actual imprisonment lasted less than two years out of a life of 83 years. To be honest, I considered it a holiday.
“The trial itself was extremely boring. Even the judge fell asleep. RJ didn't put that either. was a judge sleeping on the benchI wrote it in my diary every day.
But he didn't dislike everything.
“I love the first part of the documentary. It gets into things that a lot of people don't know anything about, that's what I like about it. (One scene he recounts: During their honeymoon in Europe, she left her husband at the hotel and walked alone to Florence Cathedral, so overwhelmed with emotion that she kissed a stranger. “I wish we could all have such evenings.) “, she says in the film.)
He acknowledged that audiences may be more forgiving of the film, focusing more on its ultimate message.
“So many girls – young women – have already told me that watching it gave them a strength they didn't know they had. And that's what I love most about the documentary. It really shows a strong woman standing up for herself and living through horrors as well as some great success.
“This is what I wanted the documentary to be made. I shouldn't boast about inner strength and all that nonsense. it should be about show Which you can have throughout your life and still be yourself.”