Before it even premiered, HBO’s “Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known” documentary caused a stir on social media. A week before the premiere date of the documentary, which follows the reunion…
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Before it even premiered, HBO’s “Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known” documentary caused a stir on social media. A week before the premiere date of the documentary, which follows the reunion concert of the original Broadway “Spring Awakening” cast, Lea Michele revealed that during the original production, she used a desk lamp to show her co-lead Jonathan Groff her vagina in order to satisfy his curiosity about the female anatomy.
When discussing his film with Variety, director Michael John Warren recalled filming that moment, and revealed that he saw part of the film as a love story between the entire cast, and especially Groff and Michele.
“I was probing about their relationship, and I had no idea that this was what her answer was going to be, but I asked a series of questions, and finally she just launched into that and I was like, ‘Well hold on a second, what are you talking about?'” Warren told Variety. “And she laid it out beat for beat for beat. And I was like, ‘I can’t believe she’s saying this,’ except that, I find her to be a very open person, she just really shared very profound information throughout the process.”
As for Groff’s reaction? “He was gobsmacked that she told me that, but I don’t think he was surprised, because he knows her so well. He says, ‘I can’t believe she told you that,’ but I also think he wasn’t that surprised because that’s who she is. She’s gonna say it.”
Warren spoke to Variety social media editor Katcy Stephan for the Variety’s “Doc Dreams” presented by National Geographic series. During their conversation, Warren talked about tackling four storylines in the film, the wildest information of the original production he learned and why “Spring Awakening” is still relevant today.
When asked who was the most emotional member of the cast to sit down for interviews, the answer was clear. Groff was definitely the one who cried the most (something he was entirely aware of and commented on several times throughout the documentary) but the entire film proved to be very emotional for the entire cast and crew to work on.
“Groff cries every time he speaks,” Warren said. “The crying award definitely goes to Groff, I don’t think anyone who knows him is going to be surprised by that. But it’s an emotional story and it’s a really emotional film, and so there was a lot of really moving interviews. I cried multiple times while doing the interviews. If you’re a person who’s actually awake and willing to feel your feelings, it’s hard to get into some of those conversations and not be struck by them. So when we really started digging into some of the heavy content of the show and that is also in this film, honestly there was a lot of tears and there was a while where I couldn’t watch the third act of the film without crying myself. We all cried a lot, but Groff cried the most.”
While Warren says his favorite track from the musical changed “100 times” while filming, he’s particularly proud to demystify the meaning of a fan favorite tune. “Purple Summer is my jam. It’s obviously an incredible song, one of my proudest elements of this film is we crack the mystery of what the hell is that song about, which I was told I was not going to be able to do—I won’t say by who. Then, eventually, we were able to cobble it together and I’m proud to announce to the fans, if you ever wondered what that song was about, I believe it’s answered pretty clearly.”
Warren knows fans may also be clamoring for the full recording of the reunion concert to be released. “People have whispered it in the wings. It’s been discussed, not seriously, but I think for now we have an incredible film. I sincerely believe it does the original show justice and I think in a way even the fans might watch this film and understand the show that they love so much even better than they ever did. I can say that some of the cast have said that to me like, ‘I couldn’t articulate what it was until I saw this film, and now I can understand what we did and what it meant.’ So I think the answer is… if you’re asking me, yes, I would love to do that. But for now, let’s start with this and see what happens.”
“Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known” is currently streaming on HBO Max. Watch the full interview above.