15 November 2024
Martha Stewart documentary maker R J Cutler doesn’t find it “surprising” she hit out at the film.
Martha Stewart documentary maker R J Cutler doesn’t find it ‘surprising’ she hit out at the film
The US lifestyle guru, 83, spoke out to say she “hates” parts of the filmmaker’s ‘Martha’, which premiered in October – and the 62-year-old has now broken his silence on her criticism.
He said on ‘The Town with Matthew Belloni’ podcast: “It wasn’t surprising to me that she would’ve made a different film that I made, of course.
“She gave me her feedback, and she was upset that I didn’t make the changes that she wanted to make. But this is the process.”
R J added on the podcast he got messages from Martha expressing her dissatisfaction, adding: “I will tell you that Martha expressed herself fully to me in her text messages.”
He stressed it took a “tremendous amount of courage on her part to trust” him with her story, adding: “It’s very, very hard to be a subject in one of these films and to look at it with any sort of objectivity.
“And so, this is a process I understand, and you have to be empathetic to the subject. But that doesn’t mean that she’s in control of the movie.
“If she has ideas that I think are good ideas and will help the film that I’m making, I’ll take a good idea from anybody. Believe me.
“We engaged in that process. And Martha would have liked me to have a different response to that process, but I didn’t have a different response.
“I have to say, the subjectivity of being Martha Stewart in this situation, the vulnerability that you’re in, has to be responded to with empathy and support. “That doesn’t mean it has to be responded to with changes to the film. And that’s what I did. Martha felt the whole thing should be scored differently, the score is extraordinary.”
Martha told the New York Times: “R J had total access, and he really used very little. It was just shocking.
“Those last scenes with me looking like a lonely old lady walking hunched over in the garden? Boy, I told him to get rid of those.
“And he refused. I hate those last scenes. Hate them.”
She also slammed R J’s choice to feature classical music in the movie, explaining that she wanted to feature more rap music – and was also upset about how the film covered her 2004 prison stint.
English (US) ·