Oprah Reportedly Unhappy With Apple TV Doc About Her Life, Paid Hefty Sum for Rights
The documentary was originally announced in 2021 with Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald signed on to direct.
Oprah Winfrey reportedly paid a hefty amount of money to scrap her Apple TV+ documentary.
Apple had originally announced in 2021 that Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald would be directing the documentary about the 70-year-old media mogul. However, a source told Page Six that Macdonald and Oprah did not see eye-to-eye with each other after finishing the film.
“Kevin made the film, but Oprah didn’t like it and he refused to change it, and Oprah has paid back her fee to Apple,” the source told the outlet.
“As the Apple TV+ deal was coming to an end, Ms. Winfrey bought back the rights to her docuseries and has since decided to put the doc on hold,” a representative for Winfrey told Page Six. “Ms. Winfrey believes Lisa Erspamer and Kevin Macdonald are incredibly talented filmmakers and is grateful for the time and energy they put into the project.”
Another source reportedly from the former talk show’s camp says Macdonald didn’t refuse to make edits to the film, but rather Winfrey thought “it wasn’t the right time to do a documentary.”
The amount of money Oprah had to pay Apple was not reported, but Page Six’s source denied that it was within the seven figure range.
