After the release of Where is Wendy Williams? The documentary’s producers reveal they apparently didn’t know about the former talk show host’s dementia diagnosis.
Mark Ford, one of the producers, revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that if the documentary crew had known about the diagnosis, none of the cameras would have rolled.
“We try to be as transparent as possible,” Ford explained. “And the making of the film is as much a story in some ways as Wendy’s own story. And that’s why we intentionally left a lot of the questions.”
Ford and his team wanted people to understand their journey. This included how disturbing it was for all of them in certain cases. It was also to show how scandalous the situations were in some aspects.
However, Ford admitted that there was no one with Wendy Williams 24/7. “So these are just all the questions we had throughout. But of course, if we had known Wendy had dementia, no one would have rolled a camera.”
When asked how the documentary came about, Ford stated that it began as a conversation between head of development Pat Lambert and Williams’ manager Will Selby. “It was supposed to be a documentary that followed his journey back to his career doing a podcast,” Ford noted.
“We thought it was a great idea and we were hoping that Wendy’s story would be redemptive and we could document this journey.”
Ford then said that as filming progressed, it became clear that it wasn’t actually going to be a comeback story. “This was going to be a deeper story and ultimately something disturbing was happening in Wendy’s life.”
Documentary producer questioned whether Wendy Williams was ready to film
Meanwhile, Ford admitted that he had questioned whether Wendy Williams was really ready to film the documentary.
“I mean, you can hear my voice in the first 10 minutes of the movie asking all the questions you would ask about this situation,” he said. “The beginning of the movie was really the development shoot, where we went out and just wanted to sit down with Wendy and see how she was doing.”
Ford also said Wendy Williams was in better condition. She “she was sober and on a better trajectory. And there were conversations and plans for the podcast, she continued. “And people were appointed to produce that podcast.”
Things eventually went off the rails because of what Ford and his team now know. Ford further admitted that it was difficult to film every day. “There was no guarantee that we would air this documentary if we were not satisfied with the content,” he added.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn