We wanted to see if she could help accept the award, but with her health, she can’t commit to a lot. I’m in touch with her manager, and James has been in touch with her. James was able to jump in and as a few questions. We ended up filming her singing and talking, and it ended with her in the living room with her family. It was an organic thing and we just happened to tag along because we wanted her on camera. She goes every year. And so she told James that if he wanted to come, he could and he could film there. They help Mexican American children get immersed into their culture, and it helps take away the shame of being Mexican American. For the bookends, an organization called Los Cenzontles is close to her heart. She didn’t want to be interviewed for our film. She is all about family and she gets joy from that. The beauty of the documentary is Linda is her own narrator and when we see her, she’s in Mexico surrounded by family, but it’s not a tragic story that’s being told. We were blessed to have Dolly Parton in that opening to kind of give those few pieces of dialogue that helped push that forward into the opening of the film. All of a sudden you get that this was a big deal and she was a big deal. We had a great archival researcher who finds all these pieces. Right off the bat, if you don’t know who she is, you hear the song and you see that she was on all these TV shows. But it’s this reintroduction of who she is. I’m not sure which one started that opening. We have a brilliant editing team, Jake Pushinsky and Heidi Scharfe. It’s 1975 and he introduces Linda who sings “You’re No Good”, which, when you’re talking about connecting to audiences, everyone has heard that song, but they don’t know the voice. It’s healing for the viewer. That’s what connects you most to them their stories and their struggles. When you hear someone expressing what they’re going through in their life, their music, and their art, it’s healing for that person. What intrigues you about telling these stories?Ī lot of times you want to do artists who are legendary artists who need that definitive documentary on their careers or their lives. It’s not just about putting them on this pedestal you want to highlight what parts of their life we can connect with. We were able to get moving on it right away. The first thing we did was go out to dinner and talk about Linda all night. But the directors were missing the link of financing, which is always, for me, the toughest part of getting these films made. Linda’s lawyer told them to speak to us and so we partnered with them. We started working on it and we heard she was in talks with (other) directors and we had to step away because someone beat us to it. With Linda being female in this male-dominated industry and finding a way to stay true to herself, her passion and love for singing and music were all that drove her. What is it about this artist and their story? What links it to today? James Keach, the other producer, and I were looking at artists from that era, and they wanted to do a Linda Ronstadt documentary. A lot of what CNN likes and what I like is tying it to today. With Linda, it was one of those things where CNN was our co-producer. You mention wanting to introduce Linda to younger generations, and you’ve worked on documentaries about David Crosby and George Harrison. When we started on this, a lot of the younger members of the team didn’t know who she was, and that’s the beauty of doing these films - trying to reintroduce younger generations to these artists because there’s so much there to explore. I’m happy the documentary has done so well. Last year, the documentary won two Critics Choice awards, and this year, it’s nominated for a Grammy. Farinola talks about how the film came together, how Keach managed to get Ronstadt on camera, and whether there’s a chance Ronstadt would make an appearance at the Grammys this weekend.
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