‘Willie Nelson & Family’ Directors Talk Legendary Musician’s Life, Legacy, Covid & Dropping A Very Different Sundance Vibe

deadline.com:

Everybody has a Willie Nelson story, including Willie Nelson himself. “We really opened ourselves to have somewhat of a nonlinear story so that we gave ourselves the opportunities, and five hours give you that chance to kind of go on tangents and come back into the story, skip back,” Willie Nelson & Family co-director Oren Moverman says about the decision he and Thom Zimny made for their five-part docuseries about the legendary 89-year-old musician. “Almost like talking with Willie, where he’ll tell you a story from 1963 and then tell you a story about something that happened yesterday and all these times are really part of one story.

So, we just went with it.” Going with it is the essential vibe of Willie Nelson & Family, which has its Sundance Film Festival premiere today in Salt Lake City.

At times as much a meditation on the American experiment as it is on the man himself, the series is a freewheeling ride — as you can see in this exclusive clip: Before the debut and several more screenings over the next week, The Messenger director Moverman and Springsteen On Broadway helmer Zimny discuss what brought them together for this project, the positive role the Covid pandemic played, and the nice break Willie Nelson & Family could provide from “the madness of Sundance,” with or without a puff or two. DEADLINE: There’s a great line in the series, in the last episode, about Willie and the magic he carries around in his pocket.

It kind of sums up the whole show for me, but I wonder what those words meant to you guys? ZIMNY: I think a big part of that quote reminds me of a phrase that we came about in making the Willie documentary, which is there’s a Willie world where you sometimes plan things, you sometimes hope to get