Documentary Makers Forced To Scrap Four Hours Of Vince McMahon Footage
Working with Vince McMahon wasn’t easy.
The “Mr .McMahon” documentary looking at the life and career of Vince McMahon has finally premiered on Netflix.
The series contains a series of wild claims from McMahon, while Steve Austin said he doesn’t believe in CTE to the confusion of many.
During the latest episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons, who worked as a producer on the series, discussed the creative process with The Ringer’s David Shoemaker. Unsurprisingly, especially to those with knowledge of McMahon, Simmons admitted the situation was far from straightforward.
“It was certainly the strangest documentary process I’ve ever been involved with,”
Shoemaker noted that McMahon often seemed unable to understand and tell his own story.
“I don’t think Vince – it sounds so weird to say – I’m not sure Vince knew what it meant to do the documentary and I’m not sure that he knew what story he wanted to tell,” Shoemaker said. “I don’t even know if he knows who he is enough to tell that story.”
“Even when he was eager, he wasn’t there on time or on the days that he was supposed to be there.”
Simmons added there were always people “lingering in the background” to make sure “nothing weird happened.”
Picking up the baton once again, Shoemaker described a scene familiar to many who worked with McMahon in WWE. He would eventually show up for his interviews after several delays, often only starting shooting late at night.
“We would show up to shoot and then just all day long be getting updates from Vince’s secretary about his ETA. Six hours, eight hours before the shoot, pushing it back an hour, pushing it back another hour.
Then he would roll in at 11 p.m., pitch black, with his little crew around him and shake everybody’s hand,
It was just such a bizarre situation.”
Vince McMahon “Sounded Like A Frog”
Later in the conversation, Shoemaker revealed there were around four hours of McMahon footage left on the cutting room floor as he sounded like a frog and struggled with his voice. Despite this, he feels the story told by director Chris Smith is “amazing.”
“We had four hours of Vince’s interview on the cutting room floor because he sounded like a frog one day. He didn’t have a voice. There was so much good material but I think the story that Chris and his team were able to tell was pretty amazing,”
Following a lawsuit filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant, McMahon is currently under a federal investigation regarding allegations of sex trafficking and sexual assault.
H/t to F4wonline