‘I hate the last scenes’

Martha Stewart has seen her new Netflix documentary, “Martha,” and she’s not exactly a fan of the finished product. The Stewart documentary is directed by RJ Cutler, whose recent biographical docs include “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” and “Elton John: Never Too Late,” and features intimate interviews with her as she opens her personal archives to share never. -seen photos, letters and diary entries from her career.

In an interview with New York TimesStewart gave “Martha” a somewhat scathing review, saying “RJ had total access” to her archive but “really used very little. It was just shocking.” She also revealed that she tried to get some of the final scenes that Cutler included in the film thrown out.

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“Those last scenes with me looking like a lonely old lady hunched over in the garden? Boy, I asked him to get rid of them. And he refused,” Stewart said. “I hate the last scenes. Hate them. I had blown my Achilles tendon. I had to have this hideous operation. And then I limped a little. But again, he doesn’t even mention why – that I can live through it and still work seven days a week.”

Stewart also called the “lousy” score Cutler chose to use in the film, explaining, “I said to RJ, ‘An essential part of the movie is you playing rap music.’ Dr. Dre will probably score it, or Snoop, or Fredwreck. I said, ‘I want that music.’ And then he gets some lousy classical score in there that has nothing to do with me.”

She also took issue with the documentary focusing too much on her 2004 trial, where she was convicted of crimes related to the ImClone stock trading case. “It wasn’t that important. The trial and the actual imprisonment were less than two years out of an 83-year life,” she argued. “I considered it a vacation, to tell you the truth.”

There were also the documentary’s bad angles. “He had three cameras on me,” Stewart explained The Times. “And he chooses to use the ugliest angle. And I told him, ‘Don’t use that angle! It’s not the nicest angle. You had three cameras. Use the other angle.’ He wouldn’t change that.”

However, Stewart did not give a complete pan. She said she loved the first half of the documentary because “it gets into things that a lot of people don’t know anything about.” Stewart also expressed gratitude for how the film is being received among young female viewers.

“So many girls have already told me that watching it gave them a strength they didn’t know they had,” Stewart said. “And that’s what I like best about the documentary. It really shows a strong woman standing up for herself and living through horror as well as a huge success.”

“That’s what I wanted the documentary to be,” she added. “It shouldn’t be me bragging about inner strength and some of that shit. It should be about showing that you can get through life and still be yourself.”

Cutler sent his own statement to The Times, saying, “I’m really proud of this film, and I admire Martha’s courage in trusting me to make it. I’m not surprised that it’s hard for her to see aspects of the.”

“Martha” is now available to stream on Netflix. Go over to New York Times website to read more about Stewart’s reaction to the film.

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