Directors Daniel Junge, Sam Pollard Join Forces For ‘I Was Born This Way,’ Doc On “Larger Than Life” Singer-Activist Archbishop Carl Bean

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Award-winning filmmakers Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard are partnering on a documentary about the late Archbishop Carl Bean, the pioneering gay African American singer turned pastor and AIDS activist.Production is underway on the feature I Was Born This Way, which takes its title from Bean’s 1977 Motown Records gay disco anthem that celebrated LGBTQ identity and later became the inspiration for Lady Gaga’s hit “Born This Way.” Junge, who won an Oscar for the 2012 documentary short Saving Face, and multiple Emmy-winner Pollard (When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts), are working with Bean’s estate to make their film.The documentary will include “exclusive, in-depth interviews” with Bean filmed before his death in September 2021 at age 77, and will also incorporate “never before seen archival footage and rotoscope animated recreations,” according to a release from the filmmakers.“Bean overcame brutal homophobia as a young man,” the release noted, before recording his classic “I Was Born This Way.” “Eschewing fame, he left the music business to form the Minority AIDS Project, dedicated to serving people of color during the AIDS crisis, and at the same time founded the Unity Fellowship Church – the first house of faith to welcome and serve all people, but particularly Black LGBTQ folks.”“Archbishop Bean was an exuberant, big-hearted, larger-than-life hero, and his life was filled with improbable twists and turns,” Junge said, “but ultimately the film is about the power of love over hatred.”Pollard added, “It’s so sad that Archbishop Bean passed away during the making of this film, but we were fortunate to have extensive interviews with him, and his voice will carry the film.