Doc Talk Podcast: R.J. Cutler Responds To Martha Stewart’s Criticism Of His Netflix Doc, Shares Scoops On Elton John, Billie Eilish Films
By Matthew Carey
November 20, 2024
Martha Stewart continues to hammer away at filmmaker R.J. Cutler over his documentary about the Queen of Hearths.
She appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week, floating the idea that Netflix should do a “second version” of Martha that would, presumably, correct what she sees as deficiencies in Cutler’s take. She told Fallon she didn’t enjoy sitting for interviews with the filmmaker because of his probing psychological questions. Overall, however, she characterized the film as “fine.”
Cutler joins the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to address Martha Stewart’s criticisms. He describes her as going “kicking and screaming” into the interviews with him, and yet simultaneously offering Cutler access to her intimate diaries and letters. He explains why he’s grateful to Stewart for criticizing the film so vocally, and he reveals the one suggestion Martha made that he agreed with and incorporated into the film.
Martha is one of two films Cutler has in Oscar contention. The other is Elton John: Never Too Late, co-directed with the British pop star’s husband David Furnish. Cutler tells Doc Talk how he worked with Furnish to expand the idea of the documentary beyond the original premise, to document John’s farewell tour that culminated at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The film explores why Elton decided to give up touring, but also delves into John’s astonishing rise to fame in the 1970s when everything he touched turned to gold records, even though success left him feeling empty.
Cutler also shares what the EGOT winner wants etched into his tombstone – and it isn’t that he won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. And he explains why he hopes Billie Eilish, the subject of a recent Cutler documentary, will give him notes on all of his films.
That’s on the new episode of Doc Talk, co-hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. The pod, a 2024 Webby Awards honoree, is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.
