Paris Hilton Doesn’t Want You to See ‘Paris, Not France’
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 2, 2008
Apparently in the world of a hotel heiress, cooperating in the making of a documentary about your life and actually showing it to the public are two different things. According to reports from various sources, socialite Paris Hilton has succeeded in putting a stop to most, but not all of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) screenings of Paris, Not France. The documentary, which is directed by Tom Petty’s daughter Adria Petty, supposedly follows Paris through one full year as she deals with whatever it is she does in her life.
Check out the full synopsis of the film below, from the TIFF programming guide:
Director Adria Petty gained close access to Paris during a tumultuous year, and her film reveals different sides of the heiress than we are used to seeing. Petty has a penchant for creating fantastic worlds out of special effects, like the magical funhouse she directed in the music video for Regina Spektor’s song “Us.” In the case of Paris, no special effects are required. Her world is a real-life fantasy.
According to Steven Zeitchik over at THR’s Risky Biz Blog, Toronto has caved to the requests from Hilton’s legal team, canceling all but one screening at the upcoming festival. The two scheduled press screenings have also been canceled. So if you are one of the lucky ones to get into the Tuesday night screening on Sept. 9th, you can count yourself lucky, no matter how good or bad the film may be, as it is likely that this particular cut of Paris, Not France will never see the light of day again.
In the wake of all this, we really have to question what it is about the film’s cut that has Paris all up in a tizzy. What could possibly be revealed in a documentary that could damage her publically? What could she possibly say or do on the big screen that is worse than what we’ve seen from her before? If anything, as Sean over at Film Junk points out, “an honest, heartfelt documentary could change people’s perception of her in a positive way.” It could allow people to see her as a human. Unless, of course, she isn’t. Like many of you, I am still open to that possibility.
What do you make of Paris Hilton getting all gung-ho over her own documentary?
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