Fun. That’s the word that comes to director Alison Ellwood’s lips when you ask her to describe the experience she had helming the recently released Showtime documentary The Go-Go’s.
(Photo credit: Jules Kueffer/Courtesy of SHOWTIME)
A fan of the band dating back to her childhood growing up in Australia, Ellwood’s path to editing future projects like the 2005 Oscar-nominated feature Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and directing the 2013 mini-series documentary History of the Eagles had its roots in an obsession she had with National Geographic dating back to when she was 5 years old (“I wanted to be a photojournalist from the time I can remember from first looking at that magazine and wanting to travel. So I ended up becoming a documentary filmmaker, which is pretty close.) The following is a trio of Ellwood’s favorite documentaries.
(Photo by Herb Goro/public domain)
Grey Gardens—Albert and David Maysles (1975)
“Truth is stranger than fiction. You can’t make that shit up!”
(Photo courtesy of Maysles Films)
Gimme Shelter—Albert and David Maysles; Charlotte Zwerin (1970)
“Love the Stones and it’s all about the unmasking of the counterculture.”
(Photo courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.)
This Is Spinal Tap—Rob Reiner (1984)
“Pure brilliance! I want to make a fake doc one day!”
The Go-Go’s is currently airing on Showtime.
