Britney vs Spears has reportedly been in the works since before Framing Britney Spears—which mostly examined the sexist treatment Spears received at the hands of the media and premiered on FX on Hulu—debuted back in February 2021. And speaking of Framing Britney Spears, the filmmakers behind that project announced a couple days after Britney vs Spears’ trailer debuted that their followup, Controlling Britney Spears, will arrive on Fri., Sept. 24 at 10 p.m. ET on FX and FX on Hulu. That one “features interviews with key insiders and people with firsthand information about how the conservatorship controlled the pop star’s life,” according to The New York Times, which co-produced both Framing and Controlling. As Britney vs Spears’ title suggests, it’ll focus on how the 39-year-old has had to battle her own family in her quest for more freedom. “As a filmmaker who makes films about women, Britney Spears is one of the big stories. She’s an icon and a celebrated person but ended up somehow having the same legal rights as a minor. It was just a pervasive mystery of what happened to this really good person,” Britney vs Spears director Erin Lee Carr told The Los Angeles Times in September 2021. “So I very naively was like, ‘Well, maybe I can figure it out.’ I called an industry insider at the beginning, and the person was like, ‘Yeah, good luck getting anyone to talk. It’s not gonna fly. It’s this story that nobody talks about.’” Carr admitted that the project took several turns and pivots after Framing Britney Spears debuted, but explained that while the Hulu project looks at media and culture’s treatment of Spears, Britney vs Spears does a more in-depth examination of the aftermath of those elements on the singer’s life. “I have never been on such an evolving story. It was a complete 24/7 job, and it was wild because the story kept changing,” Carr said. “I found it to be incredibly overwhelming, but in a way, it was like the story was finally opening up. You look at 2010, 2013, 2016 — nothing happened during that time. She worked so, so much, but she was in the conservatorship, and she was later with her boyfriend [Sam Asghari]; things seemed to be normal and OK. And then that changed in 2019. So to be a documentary filmmaker that was following the story as it was breaking open felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, though I had trouble sleeping.” Keep reading for everything you need to now about Britney vs Spears and Controlling Britney Spears, including whether Spears herself was involved in either project, how to watch and more.
Is there a trailer for the Britney Spears Netflix documentary?
It came as a shock to #FreeBritney fans when Netflix announced on Tues., Sept. 21 that Britney vs Spears would premiere on the platform less than a week later on Sept. 28. A trailer that debuted the day after that announcement opens with Britney saying, “I just want my life back.” Adnan Ghalib, the paparazzo who wound up briefly dating Spears before her conservatorship began—and who didn’t participate in Framing Britney Spears—next says, “Britney never had one person she could trust.” Other talking heads in the preview remain unidentified, but director Carr appears in the trailer as she tries to parse through and investigate Spears’ case. In the 90-second clip, Carr says, “Britney made other people a lot of money,” and, “No one would talk… until they did.” She also teases that she was secretly leaked conservatorship documents during the making of the movie.
When is the Britney Spears Netflix documentary release date?
Britney vs Spears will be available to stream on Netflix starting Tues., Sept. 28, 2021, less than a week after the streaming platform officially announced the doc’s debut. If you want to check out Controlling Britney Spears, it will debut on FX and FX on Hulu on Fri., Sept. 24 at 10 p.m. ET.
What is the new Britney Spears documentary called?
There’s Controlling Britney Spears, which arrives Sept. 24 on FX and Hulu, and then there’s Britney vs Spears, which comes to Netflix on Sept. 28. Given that Britney has been facing off against father JamieSpears in court for months trying to end her conservatorship—or at least remove him as one of the people in charge of it—both titles seems to suggest that the father-daughter relationship will be front and center. Britney vs Spears might also delve into Britney’s frayed family ties with mom Lynne Spears and sister Jamie Lynn Spears.
Was Britney Spears involved in the documentary?
It remains to be seen whether Britney Spears herself was involved in Britney vs Spears or Controlling Britney Spears, but in both cases, it’s unlikely. She wasn’t involved in Framing Britney Spears, so it stands to reason that she wouldn’t participate in the Controlling Britney Spears followup, either. As for Britney vs Spears, director Carr told The Los Angeles Times of working with the pop icon, “I always hoped and dreamed and wished and prayed to the documentary gods. I tried to contact her repeatedly. But I had to sit with the understanding that it was unlikely ever to happen.” Meanwhile, an unnamed source told Page Six on Sept. 22 about Spears, “This is another unauthorized documentary without her blessing or participation."
When was the Britney Spears Netflix documentary filmed?
Britney vs Spears was evidently filmed prior to Sept. 7, 2021, when Jamie Spears filed a petition in court to block its release, but the exact dates of the documentary’s production are not publicly known.
What is in the Britney Spears Netflix documentary?
Britney vs Spears will delve into Britney’s conservatorship through interviews with her former assistant Felicia Culotta and several other figures yet to be announced or revealed. Veteran music journalist Jenny Eliscu, who previously profiled Spears for Rolling Stone, is an executive producer on the project and is featured in the trailer with director Carr. Here’s Netflix’s official Britney vs Spears synopsis: “The world knows Britney Spears: performer, artist, icon. But in the last few years, her name has been publicly tied to another, more mysterious term: conservatorship. Britney vs Spears tells the explosive story of Britney’s life and her public and private search for freedom. Featuring years-long investigative work, exclusive interviews and new documents, this Netflix feature film paints a thorough portrait of the pop star’s trajectory from girl next door to a woman trapped by fame and family and her own legal status. It shows Britney’s life without utilizing the traumatic images that have previously defined her.” One thing you won’t see? People directly involved with the conservatorship. Carr explained to The Los Angeles Times, “People think that everybody in Britney’s life is trying to get their five minutes in the sun, and it just couldn’t be farther from the truth. People don’t want to return your phone calls. Some of the people that I really wanted that had not spoken before—they were like, ‘Absolutely not’ or just didn’t respond. I’ve made things without access before, but you need other people if you don’t have access to the main person. And Britney, at the time, had never spoken about the conservatorship.”
Who directed the Britney Spears Netflix documentary?
Britney vs Spears director Erin Lee Car is best known for the documentary How to Fix a Drug Scandal (also on Netflix) and the HBO docs Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop,Mommy Dead and Dearest, At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal and I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth V. Michelle Carter. Carr is also the author of the 2020 memoir All That You Leave Behind, which dives into her complex relationship with her father, the famous New York Times reporter and columnist David Carr, whose substance abuse addictions when Erin and her twin sister Meagan were very young led to them spending time in foster care. David died in February 2015 due to complications from lung cancer shortly after collapsing at work. Erin Lee Carr told The Los Angeles Timesof the Britney vs Spears project, “People combed through my Twitter and saw that in 2018 I had posted her autograph. Somebody did a tarot card reading on what the Netflix documentary was going to be about. I was like, ‘This is next level.’ You can lose yourself inside the chaos of the story, but at the heart of it is this person publicly and privately trying to get their own freedom back.” As for Controlling Britney Spears, it was helmed by the same director behind Framing Britney Spears, SamanthaStark.
What has Britney Spears said about her Netflix documentary?
Carr said she informed Spears of the project in a letter, but that the “Sometimes” songstress hasn’t replied. On the day Netflix announced the doc’s Sept. 28 debut, Spears didn’t issue any statements addressing Britney vs Spears on social media—only sharing a silly video that night on Instagram about “Flirting 101.” However, Spears previously expressed disdain at the Framing Britney Spears documentary on Hulu. Back in March 2021, about six weeks after that doc’s debut, she posted a since-deleted video of herself dancing to Aerosmith’s hit “Crazy” and wrote in part (via Entertainment Weekly), “I didn’t watch the documentary but from what I did see of it I was embarrassed by the light they put me in… I cried for two weeks and well… I still cry sometimes!!!! I do what I can in my own spirituality with myself to try and keep my own joy… love… and happiness!!!!” She added, “I have been exposed my whole life performing in front of people!!! It takes a lot of strength to TRUST the universe with your real vulnerability cause I’ve always been so judged… insulted… and embarrassed by the media… and I still am till this day!!!! As the world keeps on turning and life goes on we still remain so fragile and sensitive as people!!!” Carr says she took Spears’ criticisms of Framing Britney Spears to heart when making Britney vs Spears, explaining to The Los Angeles Times, “I was trying to not be another person to trespass on her privacy again and again. But she wants to get out of the conservatorship, so therefore we should know what is going on inside it. I specifically made the creative decision that we were not going to utilize the same imagery that she has said before is traumatizing. The incidents that happened in 2007 during one of the episodes at the hospital—you’re never going to see those.”
Does Britney Spears still have a conservatorship?
As of this writing, Britney’s conservatorship is still in place, but attorneys representing both her and her father are working on dissolving it. That started on Sept.7 when dad Jamie filed a petition with the court stating that he was in favor of Britney’s conservatorship being brought to an end. “Recent events related to this conservatorship have called into question whether circumstances have changed to such an extent that grounds for establishment of a conservatorship may no longer exist,” Jamie’s filing stated in part. “If Ms. Spears wants to terminate the conservatorship and believes that she can handle her own life, Mr. Spears believes that she should get that chance.” However, at the time of that filing, Jamie’s attorneys told The New YorkTimes that their client “would be in position to step aside after resolving outstanding matters including financial accounting for the conservatorship in recent years.” Some followers of Britney’s case suspect that means Jamie will demand to negotiate financial or legal arrangements that benefit himself before he’ll agree to walk away.
Where is Britney Spears now?
Britney is having a busy September! She got engaged to Asghari, who she’s dated for roughly five years, then celebrated her sons’ birthdays just days later. (Older son Sean Preston Federline was born on Sept. 14, 2005, while younger son Jayden James Federline was born on Sept. 12, 2006.) On Sept. 29, 2021, she is also expected to take part in a court hearing regarding the end of her conservatorship. Next, find out all about Britney Spears’ net worth — and how becoming free of her conservatorship may affect her bottom line.
Is the Britney Spears documentary on Netflix?
Britney vs Spears will be on Netflix. Framing Britney Spears is on Hulu, which is also where Controlling Britney Spears will be available to stream.
How can I watch the Britney Spears documentary in the UK?
Viewers across the pond should be able to watch Britney vs Spears on Netflix. Next, find out why fans are clamoring for Oprah Winfrey to interview Britney Spears after her Meghan Markle sitdown.
