“I used to love Oprah,” wrote one reader after learning that the celebrity reportedly spent a large sum to regain the right to a documentary about her life from Apple TV+, stopping it from ever being released.
The project, announced in 2021, was to be helmed by Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald. However, insiders revealed that the project faced multiple delays due to creative differences between the production and Winfrey, who was dissatisfied with her depiction in the documentary.
Highlights
- Oprah reportedly paid millions to stop the release of a documentary about her life made by Apple TV+.
- The documentary, directed by Oscar-winner Kevin Macdonald, was announced in 2021 but faced delays due to creative differences.
- A representative confirmed she bought back the rights in September 2022, stating the documentary is now 'on hold' indefinitely.
“Kevin made the film, but Oprah didn’t like it and he refused to change it, and Oprah has paid back her fee to Apple,” a source told Page Six.
Oprah Winfrey bought back the rights to an Apple documentary about her life to stop its release, setting the internet ablaze with speculation about her reasons
Image credits: TODAY
A representative of the TV personality confirmed that she bought back the rights to the film in September 2022, right when her deal with Apple was nearing its end.
“Ms. Winfrey believes Lisa Erspamer and Kevin Macdonald are incredibly talented filmmakers and is grateful for the time and energy they put into the project,” she said, confirming that the documentary is “on hold” indefinitely.
Image credits: Oprah Winfrey
Details on what exactly made Oprah stop the release of the documentary remain vague, with her team stating only that she felt it “wasn’t the right time for a documentary.”
Winfrey has collaborated with Apple on multiple occasions in the past, producing projects such as The Oprah Conversations and the mental health series The Me You Can’t See with Prince Harry, a follow-up to her explosive 2020 interview with Harry and Meghan Markle on CBS.
Sources and Winfrey’s representatives disagree on whether Macdonald was open to changes, with some saying he was and others claiming he was adamant in protecting his vision
Image credits: Oprah Winfrey
Macdonald is a renowned director, winning an Oscar for his 1999 documentary One Day in September, which examines the murder of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Münich.
His latest documentary, One to One: John & Yoko, recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival, with no mention of Winfrey’s project in his portfolio.
Image credits: Michael Short/Getty
This isn't the first time Winfrey has pulled the plug on a major release. In 2020, she abruptly withdrew her support for On the Record, a documentary about music executive Drew Dixon’s sexual misconduct allegations against Russell Simmons, just two weeks before its Sundance premiere.
The TV personality recently conducted an interview with OpenAI’s Sam Altman; she took a deep dive into artificial intelligence and its potential consequences for humanity moving forward.