George Michael frees some of himself in documentary
The film was in its final stages when the singer died last year
A slew of peers are interviewed for Showtime’s new documentary George Michael: Freedom — including Stevie Wonder and Elton John — but it’s admirer James Corden who captures the emotional appeal of Michael’s music.
“You feel like he’s got a layer or two of skin missing. Like he bruises easier,” Corden says of the pop icon, who was wrapping up the documentary when he died last Christmas at age 53. “And because of that, he can write these amazing songs.”
Ten takeaways from the documentary, which premieres Saturday (9 ET/PT):
1. GEORGE NARRATES, BUT THAT ISN’T HIM YOU SEE.
Michael is glimpsed through a window of his London mansion as his Labrador retriever, Abby, wanders outside, and he’s shown pecking on a typewriter throughout the documentary, which he codirected. But that’s actor Simon Rutter who’s onscreen.
2. SORRY, WHAM! OBSESSIVES: ANDREW RIDGELEY ISN’T INTERVIEWED.
But Michael’s best friend and ’80s bandmate is mentioned briefly, and lovingly. The documentary accompanies the Friday reissue of 1990’s Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 and takes place in the years surrounding the release of that album.
3. GEORGE DIDN’T CONSIDER HIMSELF HANDSOME — NOT MODESTY BUT INSECURITY.
“I’ve never been happy with the way I looked,” Michael once told USA TODAY, and he elaborates in the documentary: “It goes back to a family background where conceit of any kind was considered an absolute sin. No one was praised about the way they looked.”
4. WE’VE BEEN MISINTERPRETING LISTEN WITHOUT PREJUDICE AS A PLEA TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.
Urban radio embraced his 1987 solo debut, Faith. But backlash set in after Michael won favorite soul/R&B album and soul/R&B male artist at the 1989 American Music Awards. The title of Preju- dice, his next album, referenced the perception that he was appropriating black culture: “It was just trying to say, ‘Let me be both of these things without having to be one or the other.’ ”
5. HE WROTE PRAYING FOR TIME AND HEAL THE PAIN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ABBEY ROAD AND REVOLVER.
“I made one record to show how much I love Lennon, another to show how much I love McCartney,” Michael says, accompanied by cute footage of him fanboying over the latter Beatle.
6. HE REGRETTED TAKING ON HIS RECORD LABEL, SONY.
A sizable chunk of the 95-minute documentary is devoted to Michael’s attempt to get out of his contract. In hindsight, the star realized he’d “lost everything ” in America as a result.
7. GEORGE WAS SKEPTICAL FRANK SINATRA WROTE THAT INFAMOUS LETTER ADVISING HE LOOSEN UP AND BE GRATEFUL.
It struck him as “the work of a publicist, not the work of a genius.”
8. FANS WILL GET THEIR BEST LOOK YET AT ANSELMO FELEPPA, HIS FIRST LOVE.
Freedom includes Michael’s extensive home-video footage of Feleppa, who died of AIDS in 1993.
9. THERE ARE GAPS IN THE SINGER’S BIOGRAPHY.
Michael’s struggles with addiction and his prison stint are largely glossed over (aside from clips of him spoofing his checkered past with Corden and Ricky Gervais). His life-threatening 2011 bout with pneumonia isn’t even mentioned.
10. KNOWING HOW THE STORY ENDS DOESN’T MAKE IT ANY LESS SAD.
It’s impossible not to flinch when Tony Bennett enthuses, “This guy is going to be around a long time.” Or when Michael speculates what will be written on his tombstone. “I hope that people think of me as someone who had some kind of integrity,” he says — and jokes that it’s unlikely.