HBO debuted the official trailer for Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes, a documentary on one of the last stars of classical Hollywood cinema, Elizabeth Taylor. The documentary features Taylor’s unreleased interview from 1964, with 40 hours of recording of the actress illustrating her life and career. The documentary is directed by award-winning filmmaker of ‘American Teen’ and ‘The Kid Stays in the Picture’, Nanette Burstein.
Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and was an official selection at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival.
Release Date
Directed by Nanette Burstein, ‘Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes’ debuts on HBO on August 3, 2024 (8:00 p.m.-9:45 p.m. ET/PT) and will be available to stream on Max.
Synopsis
‘Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes’ allows Elizabeth Taylor’s own voice to narrate her story, inviting audiences to rediscover not just a mega star of Hollywood’s Golden Age but a complex woman who navigated lifelong fame, personal identity, and public scrutiny on a global stage from early childhood. Through newly recovered interviews with Taylor and unprecedented access to the movie star’s personal archive, the film reveals the complex inner life and vulnerability of the Hollywood legend while also challenging audiences to recontextualize her achievements and her legacy.
In 1964, at the height of her fame, Elizabeth Taylor sat down with journalist Richard Meryman for a candid, extensive interview. Drawing from 40 hours of the newly unearthed audio interviews and extraordinary access to personal photos, home movies, archival interviews, and news footage, illustrated with clips from the iconic roles that mirror her real-life challenges and triumphs, ‘Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes’ provides the most intimate portrait of the actress to date.
‘Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes’ offers an unprecedented window into the life of a woman who defied the era’s expectations, ultimately found peace within herself, and who cemented her legacy by turning the tables on her own fame by becoming a fierce activist and advocate for the LGBTQ community.
Reviews
Pete Hammond in a Deadline Hollywood review praised the documentary, writing “It all makes for a satisfying journey through one of Hollywood’s most memorable careers. There is the feeling of intimacy that makes this one special, if not exactly full of new revelations.”
Caryn James in a Hollywood Reporter review wrote “there aren’t many personal revelations in Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes. But Nanette Burstein‘s elegantly constructed documentary, mostly in Taylor’s own words backed by illuminating archival images, works as a lively bit of film history about movie stardom in the volatile 1960s as the studio system was fading and the media exploding.“
Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for ‘Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes’.