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EXCLUSIVE: Elizabeth Taylor‘s son will be interviewed on TV for the first time about his mother in the upcoming Kim Kardashian-produced doc about one of Hollywood’s ultimate leading ladies.
Kari Lia, one of the EPs behind Passion Pictures‘ Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar [working title] for the BBC, revealed to Deadline that Chris Wilding, Taylor’s son with her second husband Michael Wilding, will speak after many decades.
Former film editor Wilding will feature in the upcoming doc series alongside Todd Fisher, Carrie Fisher’s brother, and Aileen Getty, Taylor’s daughter-in-law who campaigned alongside her to help those with HIV/Aids. The new interviewees will contribute alongside the likes of Kardashian, Joan Collins and Margaret O’Brien, all of whom knew Taylor personally.
Lia said Wilding had been “shy” in the past to discuss his mother’s legacy but, as what would have been her 92nd birthday approaches, he felt that “the right opportunity” is now.
“There was a lot he wanted to say about his mum and when you hear him speak you understand a side of Liz you might not have understood before,” she added. “She was the most photographed and filmed woman for much of her life but you always saw her at a distance. We want to take you inside her world.”
Wilding understood from the get-go that Rebel Superstar was “more than just a ‘tittle tattle’ doc series,” Lia added, and she cited that producers had got to know him reall well before he appeared on camera. “He was incredible and shared so much with us,” she added.
Comparing Elizabeth Taylor & Kim Kardashian
Elizabeth Taylor (left) and Kim Kardashian
Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo / Pierre Suu/Getty Images
Kardashian was the last person to interview Taylor when she was alive and Lia heaped praise on her contribution both in front of and behind the camera, along with drawing parallels between the two.
“There are few people in the world who understand what it is like to be that level of famous,” added Lia. “Kim and Elizabeth are of course very different but there are similarities in terms of being in the public eye on a daily basis, running a business, having a family and having all that attention on you for such a long period of time. Kim is one of the few people in the world who can explain what this feels like.”
Lia added that Kardashian will help attract the younger generation, who may be less familiar with Taylor, the Oscar-winning star of Cleopatra, BUtterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, who was the first actress to receive one million dollars for a role.
Upon the show’s announcement, Passion and distributor Fremantle said Taylor “created the blueprint for modern celebrity,” and Lia told us the doc will explore this in more depth while spotlighting her career beyond the movies.
“She was the first woman to have the entire world fascinated with her every move and in the 1950s this was a new concept,” said Lia, of the actress who twice married and twice divorced Richard Burton. “It was challenging but she began to take control of the narrative. She said, ‘I will use this power to help people suffering from HIV and start my business empire’.”
Via the team’s production techniques and choice of interviewees, Lia said Rebel Superstar will “tell Elizabeth’s story contemporarily” in a way that hasn’t been done before.
She added: “A lot of these icons like Marilyn Monroe unfortunately died quite young but Liz didn’t – she was famous until the day she died – so we have this incredible way of telling a story about a period when the world changed and she was at the forefront of that change.”
Rebel Superstar EPs are Lia, Hamish Fergusson and Kardashian. James House is the series director and Jemma Chisnall is the series producer. Fremantle is distributing at this week’s London TV Screenings.
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