Liz Garbus’ next project will give viewers an inside-look at The New York Times. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the “What Happened, Miss Simone?” director is helming a documentary series for Showtime that follows the newspaper and its coverage of the Trump administration — which is not exactly a fan of the free press, especially the NY Times. Garbus has been filming at the Times’ main office for over six months already.
The project, tentatively-titled “The Fourth Estate,” will serve as “both an inside look at how the paper is covering President Trump and the larger role of journalism today — as truths are challenged at every turn and the label of ‘fake news’ is used by the current administration as a response to negative coverage,” THR details.
As for the demagogue himself, Trump has called the publication “the failing New York Times” and “highly inaccurate,” which seems to have only strengthened the Times’ reputation. “In May, The New York Times Company reported rising digital subscriptions (308,000 added in the first quarter),” the source observes, “even as overall advertising revenue dropped seven percent.”
Garbus received Best Documentary Oscar nominations for “What Happened, Miss Simone?” and “The Farm: Angola, USA” in 2016 and 1999, respectively. Netflix doc “What Happened, Miss Simone?” took home the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special in 2016. “Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper,” “Love, Marilyn,” and “Bobby Fischer Against the World” are among Garbus’ other doc directing credits.
Next, Garbus will direct the Sarah Paulson-starrer “Lost Girls.” The adaptation of Robert Kolker’s 2013 book “Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery” is about the so-called Craigslist Ripper.
Showtime has previously acquired the rights to documentaries like Laura Poitras’ “Risk,” Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegman’s “Weiner,” and the Whitney Houston-centric “Whitney: Can I Be Me.”