![]() ![]() But I do think that he bears a good deal of responsibility in her demise and death because of the things that he didn’t do. “I don’t think that murdered - and I’m throwing air quotes around it - Brittany. “The first thing is that you have to believe her autopsy if you believe in science,” she says. “I thought that it was really meaningful to understand him a little bit better and to try to unpack him more.”Īlthough this project came to Hill as a true-crime doc, she doesn’t want viewers to look at it solely through that lens. “I’m so grateful that they were willing to to participate,” Hill says. On the flip side, when Monjack’s mother and brother heard about this docuseries, they reached out and ended up sitting down for a joint interview. “I did get confirmation from someone else that she had received it,” Hill says about the letter. Hill says Sharon Murphy was “the first person on my interview ‘want’ list,” but despite attempts to reach her via phone, letters and a private investigator “to make sure that she received our letter,” Sharon Murphy “never officially responded to us.” The archival footage of Murphy as a child came from “connections we made in New Jersey,” Hill notes, rather than Murphy’s family. I don’t know if that’s really how she felt, but it did give us at least something to work with.” “Our team started watching these movies, and it just was interesting to see how her movie roles, there was some poignant moments where there were parallels and it just really made sense to try to give her voice that way and to let her have a moment to speak for herself. When you start looking at the archives, we have EPKs, red carpets none of that is intimate or personal,” Hill says. Since Murphy is no longer here to speak for herself, Hill uses archival video of her as a child, as well as clips from her movies - from “Clueless” to “Girl, Interrupted” to “Uptown Girls” - to punctuate key points in her biography. She was already struggling, and he just made it impossible for her. He just made it impossible for her to work. “On that last job, I still haven’t gotten a very clear picture, but he was, I think, in an altercation with somebody on that movie. And so, he had her convinced that he was doing right by her and that he was her savior, and in fact it was quite the opposite,” Hill says. “Alex Merkin, who directed her in ‘Across the Hall,’ he said that he would create this chaos so that he could come in and pluck her and save her from the chaos. It also recounts stories from those who worked with her but had no direct access to her and instead had to do everything through him. The documentary alleges that Monjack fed her insecurities about her body and what she thought a leading lady had to look like, leading to rumors about plastic surgery, anorexia and drug abuse. Oh my gosh, that’s so great I’m so happy for her.’ When most of us, I think probably any of us, would think about ourselves first. “One of her former managers told me that she’d never met anyone like her and that they would go on auditions and it would be a role she really wanted and someone else would get it, and so she would have to tell Brittany, ‘You didn’t get the role, so and so got it.’ And Brittany would always say, ‘Oh, she’s so perfect for that role. Hill wanted the docuseries to explore Murphy’s talent, but also her open spirit and trusting nature, which she believes ultimately allowed Monjack into her life in the first place and arguably allowed him to control her life once he was there. In addition to featuring interviews with Murphy’s friends and collaborators, such as “Clueless” director Amy Heckering and “King of the Hill” co-star Kathy Najimy, and journalists who reported on Murphy’s life and death, Hill includes clips from YouTubers in the docuseries. I do think that it says a lot about where we are right now,” she says. People are so fascinated by it, including me. Many still run rampant on YouTube today.Īll of that fed into the appeal for Hill to taking on Brittany Murphy’s story. ![]() When Monjack died of pneumonia and anemia just months after Murphy, those cries turned to conspiracy theories. Because her death was so unexpected, and in the end ruled to be caused by something seemingly easily treatable (a combination of pneumonia, anemia and drug intoxication), fans and internet sleuths cried foul play. The appeal of Murphy’s story for an audience member, especially one active on social media, is obvious: She was a talented actor struck down in her prime. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |