Courtesy of Deadline, the latest trailer for Kevin Mazur’s Sellebrity is ready for doc junkies and celebrity addicts alike to view. An earlier, shorter trailer was hosted in March by Taranets, but did not include the multitude of A-lister interviews this one has.
The preview showcases director Kevin Mazur‘s attempts to dissect paparazzi and celebrity culture, and the overabundance of media consumption available for the masses. From the trailer, a bias supporting celebrities is evident, with the invasion and curiosity society holds towards Hollywood seen as a trashy fascination.
Featuring interviews with Jennifer Aniston, Elton John, Salma Hayek, Kid Rock and many more, the film isn’t short on star power. However, this selling point does beg the question – how much of an informed opinion does Sellebrity hope to accomplish? The trailer’s depiction of paparazzi, consumers, and celebrities is clearly slanted towards a particular perspective. A review by Hollywood Reporter notes the following:
“Mazur is understandably critical of TMZ and its ilk (though he does let some shooters defend themselves), but as he recounts the early days of Hollywood image-management, never sees much wrong with the world of artifice and outright lies crafted by people like himself. He’s happy to blame civilians who buy gossip rags for creating demand for the photos, but reluctant to investigate why people care about seeing actors walk their dogs in the first place.”
The documentary premiered at SXSW and will be shown again at the Nantucket Film Festival this weekend.
I’m on the fence with Sellebrity so far. Documentaries that fail to acknowledge an issue’s multi-faceted paradigms and solutions aren’t high on my viewing priority list, and given the less than stellar review so far, I’ll wait for the eventual cascade of praise or dissent.
What do you think? Worth the watch or dead on arrival?
Take a look below: