Martin Scorsese documentary on Bill Clinton stalls

Martin Scorsese has tackled the mob, the Dalai Lama and the real-life Wolf of Wall Street. But he appears to have met his match in Bill Clinton. The filmmaker's partly finished documentary about Clinton – which once seemed likely to be released as Hillary Rodham Clinton was navigating a presidential run – has stalled over disagreements about control, people briefed on the project said.

Though parts of the film were shot over the last two years as the former president made a philanthropic visit to Africa and elsewhere, the project is now indefinitely shelved, partly because Bill Clinton insisted on more control over the interview questions and final version than Scorsese was willing to give, those people said.

How Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, who briefly worked as a special correspondent at NBC News, might figure in the film or on the production team was also an open question.

‘Inaccurate’

Asked about assertions that the project, backed by HBO, was stalled over differences about content and control and was now put aside, Matt McKenna, a spokesman for Clinton, in an email described them as “inaccurate”, without elaborating.

A spokesman for Scorsese declined to comment on the project, as did a spokesman for Steve Bing, a Clinton friend and donor who was to be a producer of the film. A spokesman for HBO said, "It's not happening soon but that doesn't mean it's not going to happen."

The people who described the project’s disintegration (barring a sudden thaw between the two camps) spoke on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality strictures. Scorsese, an Academy Award-winning director who is 72 years old, still has many cinematic irons in the fire.

This week, a representative at his Sikelia Productions said the filmmaker and his associates were preoccupied with preparations in Taiwan for the filming of Silence, a period piece about Jesuit priests, which stars Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield and is set for release in the United States by Paramount Pictures.

But Scorsese clearly had a soft spot for the Clinton project. In a 2012 statement, he said the film would “provide greater insight into this transcendent figure”. Clinton at the time said he was pleased to become the subject of a “legendary director”.

Still, neither Clinton nor Scorsese proved able to overcome the complications inherent in an attempt to build entertainment – however informative a documentary might be – around a figure whose wife stands on the verge of another presidential campaign.

Clearly, the film carried the risk that an unflattering camera angle, unwelcome question or even an obvious omission by Scorsese would become a blemish to Clinton’s legacy or provide fodder for Clinton critics as the 2016 campaign approaches. Apparently to avoid such problems, people close to Clinton sought to approve questions he would be asked in the film, and went so far as to demand final cut, a privilege generally reserved for directors of Scorsese’s stature.

Scorsese’s camp rejected those suggestions and the project was shelved. The film now appears to be years away from completion.

Chelsea Clinton, who left her NBC News job in August and works closely with her father, was expected to figure in the documentary in some way, and some in the Clinton circle had speculated that she would be credited as a producer. But a spokesman for Chelsea Clinton said any notion that she had sought to join the production was “categorically false”.

On message

In recent months, Bill Clinton’s team has shown increased discipline in keeping the former president on message ahead of his wife’s likely 2016 presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton is expected to declare her candidacy sometime this spring.

The former president is often a strong asset for his wife, but he also proved to be a liability during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary when he made comments about then senator Barack Obama that many interpreted as racially insensitive.

While Clinton the Musical, a stage satire focused on Clinton administration scandals, is now set for an off-Broadway run beginning in March, other Clinton-themed entertainment projects have faltered.

In the autumn of 2013, CNN scrapped a documentary about Hillary Clinton amid pushback from Clinton aides and the Republican National Committee; and NBC scrapped a planned miniseries in which Diane Lane would have portrayed her.

Also, Rodham, a planned feature film about the romance between a young Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham, has been struggling through Hollywood's development process since Lionsgate acquired rights to it in 2013.

– (New York Times service)