Morgan Neville on Steve Martin and the Glut of Celebrity Documentaries: ‘We Are Emerging From What Was Peak Production of All Things’
variety.comAddie Morfoot Contributor Unlike many celebrity-driven documentaries, Morgan Neville‘s “Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in Two Pieces” about the writer and comedian wasn’t deliberately made as a marketing device tied to a new TV series or movie.
The two-part docu is also not your traditional career-encompassing overview of Martin’s life. Instead Neville, who garnered an Oscar in 2014 for “20 Feet From Stardom,” created feature-length installments called “Then” and “Now” that are told from two points of views using two different formats. “Then” chronicles Martin’s early struggles and meteoric rise to revolutionize standup before walking away at age 35. “Now” focuses on Martin’s present day life, retracing the transformation that led to newfound happiness in his art and personal life.
Neville began filming “Steve!” in spring 2021 after meeting Martin for lunch to discuss the possibility of making the docu. “We had a great conversation,” says Neville. “I think one of the advantages of having made films for a long time is that he had seen a bunch of my movies.
I made a documentary years ago called “The Cool School” about the birth of the modern art scene in Los Angeles and he had seen that.
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