Just less than a week before the documentary premieres, Netflix released the trailer for Britney vs Spears.
Hitting the streamer Sept. 28, the movie goes deep on the conservatorship of pop icon Britney Spears by telling the story of her life and her public and private search for freedom. Despite the relatively recent uptick in public interest in her case, the documentary features years-long investigative work, in addition to exclusive interviews and new documents.
“I just want my life back,” Spears says in the opening two seconds of the trailer.
Later, a narrator confesses the hardships of unveiling such a case. “No one would talk,” she says.
A moment later, perhaps acknowledging this year’s whirlwind of events around Spears, she shifts: “... Until they did.”
Britney vs Spears appears to be aiming to differentiate itself from Framing Britney Spears, the explosive project from Hulu and The New York Times that ignited public outcry earlier this year over Spears’ conservatorship. Instead, the Netflix film works to paint a thorough portrait of the pop star’s trajectory from girl-next-door to a woman trapped by fame, family and her own legal status. And this time without using the traumatic images that have previously defined her.
Spears has been under a conservatorship under father Jamie Spears since 2008. Allegations of abuse by her father and team percolated among her fan base until the Hulu documentary sent the #FreeBritney movement into overdrive. An onslaught of investigative media followed and finally gave Spears a chance to work toward living a life of independence.
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The documentary is helmed by director Erin Lee Carr, whose previous credits include How to Fix a Drug Scandal and Dirty Money, and journalist Jenny Eliscu. The duo and their team developed a film that presents a timeline of old and new players, secret rendezvous and Spears’ behind-the-scenes fight for autonomy.
The trailer closes with a voiceover from Spears from her groundbreaking court hearing earlier in the summer. “I deserve to have the same rights as anybody does. It’s been 13 years and it’s enough.”
Britney vs Spears will hit Netflix one day before Spears’ next court hearing about whether or not to remove her father as conservator.
Watch the full trailer below.
"It's been 13 years and it's enough."
— Netflix (@netflix) September 22, 2021
Britney vs Spears premieres Sept 28 pic.twitter.com/y2CCV4Jnh7
Photography by: John Salangsang/BFA.com
