Celebrity and documentary intersected on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival this year with the world premiere of Bono: Stories of Surrender, the film about the U2 frontman directed by Andrew Dominik. The Irish rock star, his wife and two of his kids turned out for the glamorous late-night event on the Croisette, along with Kristen Stewart, Sean Penn, Mariska Hargitay, Imogen Poots, Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux and even the mayor of Cannes.
Before the premiere, Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast got a chance to visit with Bono to discuss the film, which explores the singer-songwriter’s relationship with his father and losing his mother when he was a teenager. Today’s edition of the show features our conversation with Bono and makers of other major documentaries that premiered in Cannes, a lineup that includes:
- Eugene Jarecki, director of The Six Billion Dollar Man, his documentary about Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who tells us why he thinks the film will be “catnip” for American distributors (he may have said it in jest)
- Oscar nominee Raoul Peck, who tells us why it was a “biggie” to get access to George Orwell’s published and unpublished work for his documentary Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5 and how the late British author forecast our current politics
- Hargitay, who unveiled the documentary My Mother Jayne about her late mother Jayne Mansfield, explaining why she felt a sense of shame about her mother’s public image before reevaluating her as a person.
- Slauson Rec director Leo Lewis O’Neil and producer Matt Zien, who discuss their film documenting Shia LaBeouf’s stormy leadership of a free theater company in Los Angeles. They offer their theory on what hole the theater project filled in LaBeouf’s life, even as running the company seemed to drive the actor over the edge.
That’s on the latest edition of the Doc Talk podcast, hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. The pod is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.
Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.
