Martha Stewart has expressed interest in a renewed documentary chronicling her life.
The 83-year-old businesswoman recently told Jimmy Fallon during a guest appearance on “The Tonight Show” that RJ Cutler’s documentary “Martha” “left out a lot.” Stewart added: “I’ll talk to them about the possibility of doing a second version. There’s a lot going on in my life. I mean I’ve lived for a long time and I thought we might have left some things out…good things.”
During an interview with The New York Times in October, Stewart explained her surprise about how little footage from her archive Cutler chose to use in a Netflix documentary about her.
She also said that the director kept three cameras on his subject during filming and that she was upset with his production choices.
“He chose to use the ugliest angle,” Stewart told the New York Times. “And I told him: Don’t use this angle!” This is not the prettiest angle. You had three cameras. Use the other angle. He won’t change that.”
Other aspects of the Netflix documentary that caught Stewart off guard were the classical score Cutler chose to include and the director’s focus on the lifestyle mogul’s 2004 trial.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” Stewart said. “The trial and actual imprisonment were less than two years out of 83 years of life.”
However, the “Martha Rules” author admitted to enjoying the first half of the film and explained that the documentary explores themes that many viewers may not be familiar with.
“I’ve had a lot of girls actually tell me that watching him gave them a strength they didn’t know they had,” Stewart said. “It really shows a strong woman standing up for herself and living through terror as well as some tremendous success… It should be about showing that you can get through life and still be yourself.”
Cutler responded to Stewart’s criticism of the Netflix doc, saying diverse“I teased her, saying she was the only one who gave us a really bad review.” The ‘Martha’ director added: “So I think it takes an enormous amount of courage to trust someone to tell your story. Martha – she was completely committed, not only to doing an interview, but to her huge archive. She might have finished the film differently, or She made the film differently, so bless her, she has every right to criticize it.
“Martha” is available to stream on Netflix.