A daily chronicle of creativity in film, TV, music, arts, and entertainment, produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from November 2014 – March 2020. Host John Horn leads the conversation, accompanied by the nation's most plugged-in cultural journalists.
“Amazing Grace” is Aretha Franklin’s biggest-selling album in her long career. The live album was recorded in 1972 at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in L.A. and is also the subject of a documentary directed by the late Sydney Pollack, who made “Toostie” and “Out of Africa.” But as of now, you may never be able to see the film.
A federal judge in Denver ordered that the music documentary not be shown at the Telluride Film Festival just moments before it was scheduled to premiere on Sept. 4. Franklin’s lawyers claimed the producer of the film, Alan Elliott, did not get her permission to use the footage in the documentary.
The release of "Amazing Grace" has been a long and ongoing battle — more than 40 years to be exact. But a number of attorneys say the decision by a U.S. District Judge sets a horrible precedent in First Amendment law.
The Frame's John Horn spoke with Eriq Gardner, a senior editor at The Hollywood Reporter, about the details of the lawsuit and the future of the film:
This movie was banned from playing at the Telluride Film Festival, but what is happening in Toronto?
The Toronto Film Festival got some cold feet. They didn't want to be subject to a lawsuit. And the film was also pulled from the Chicago Film Festival. I think everyone is a little bit scared and a little bit shocked at what happened in Denver on the precipices of the Telluride Film Festival.
We should make clear that the lawsuit was not against the producer, Alan Elliott. It was against the Telluride Film Festival. So what exactly was Aretha Franklin arguing about the film?
She was arguing [that] in order for the film to come out, she needed to give her consent, [and because] the film used her likeness and her name, that it would be a violation of her publicity rights for the film to be shown. Honestly, I've never seen anything like that. I've seen lots of lawsuits like this, but I've never seen an injunction be issued over a claim of this nature.
Is this incredibly rare in the film world — that a filmmaker and a film festival would be banned at the very last minute from showing a film to an audience?
Not only is it rare, but this is basically the only time it's ever happened. What I understand, there was even a push to get Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to get involved over the weekend.
So if Justice Sotomayor does not jump in, what happens to the movie? What's its future?
Well, there's two potential paths. The first is that there's a settlement between Aretha Franklin and the producer where they agree on some sort of compensation package. Right now, Aretha Franklin's attorneys believe that this film is going to make $2 million, so they're asking for half of it. And the producer thinks that's outrageous. If that doesn't happen, all hell is going to break loose. I think there are going to be more lawsuits filed, including against Aretha Franklin, for interfering with all these film festivals.