A long-troubled documentary on Prince, in the works at Netflix since 2018, has now been officially shelved. The project, helmed by acclaimed director Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America), became mired in disputes over content, length, and ultimately, control—until Prince’s estate exercised its right to shut the whole thing down.
The seeds of conflict were sown early. Edelman reportedly delivered nine hours of footage instead of the agreed six, a breach of contract that proved pivotal. With the estate already wary of how the late icon was being portrayed, this misstep gave them the leverage to refuse permission for Prince’s music to be used—a move that effectively doomed the project.
By 2023, sources close to the estate were calling the documentary “dead in the water”, citing concerns over accuracy and fairness. Some involved alleged that Prince’s darker traits had been exaggerated or misrepresented, with at least one estate representative warning the film “would do generational harm to Prince.”
On February 6, Netflix made it official. “The Prince Estate and Netflix have come to a mutual agreement that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive,” the streaming giant told Variety. “As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released.”
In what seemed like a coded response, the estate itself issued a cryptic statement: “The vault has been freed.” Whether this means a fresh take on the material is coming—or whether the vault will once again be locked tight—remains to be seen.
Those who have seen the film suggest it’s unlikely to ever surface in its original form. A preview from The New York Times described it as “a cursed masterpiece that the public may never be allowed to see”—a portrait of an artist who was at once “a creature of pure sex and mischief and silky ambiguity” and “dark, vindictive, and sad.”
“The artist who liberated so many could be pathologically controlled and controlling,” the review noted. “The film is sometimes uncomfortable to watch.”
The documentary was also said to contain allegations from former partners, describing physical and emotional abuse, adding further fuel to the estate’s determination to block its release.
As for Edelman, sources claim he was “devastated” by the collapse of the project—four years of work seemingly abandoned.
For now, the story of Prince’s definitive documentary remains unwritten. But as ever with the Purple One, control of the narrative is everything.
