Phil Spector – Music Legend and Murderer

01/19/23 • 50 min

Phil Spector was a musical genius. His brilliance as a producer made him a legend. On February 3rd 2003 he shot Lana Clarkson dead. In 2009, he was convicted of murder, and died in prison on January 16th 2021.

Spector is a four-part Showtime docu-series (available to watch on Sky Documentaries in the U.K.). In it, series co-directors Sheena M. Joyce and Don Argott examine not only Spector’s ‘life and legacy’ but also the person of Lana Clarkson.

As they tell host, Matthew Sherwood, they want to make Lana ‘more than just a footnote in the Phil Spector story’ by bringing ‘her out as a fully fleshed out human being.’

In doing so, they take the viewer on a more challenging but ultimately more rewarding journey. The Phil Spector that they present is no monster. Rather, he is a deeply damaged human being; one whose flaws led ultimately to his downfall.

In this episode of Factual America we learn that in order to present as full a picture of Spector as possible, Sheena and Don spoke to a wide variety of people. Among them, the lead detectives in the Lana Clarkson murder case, as well as others with first-hand knowledge of some of the incredible stories told about Spector during his career. The docu-series even has recordings of Phil Spector speaking on the night of the murder.

With Matthew, Sheena and Don discuss the link between musical genius and mental illness – why it seems to affect artists and not people in other industries; the role of money and power, and whether we can still engage with the work of artists who have done terrible things.

They also shed light on who Lana Clarkson was. As Sheena says, Lana ‘was more than Phil Spector’s victim. She was a successful working actress... a daughter and a sister and a friend who by all accounts brought light and joy into the lives of everyone she met.’

Spector is the story of a tragedy, of a legacy corrupted, and two lives wasted. It is a story that moves in the light, and dark. In Factual America #120, go behind the scenes with Matthew Sherwood, Sheena M. Joyce and Don Argott.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“There have also been people that criticised us for contextualising Phil’s behaviour, as if that's somehow giving him a pass... it was important to us to present him as a multifaceted human being. He was a loving and devoted father to his daughter Nicole... It doesn't negate the fact that he murdered Lana Clarkson.” – Sheena M. Joyce

As they tell host, Matthew Sherwood, they want to make Lana ‘more than just a footnote in the Phil Spector story’ by bringing ‘her out as a fully fleshed out human being.’

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

Previous Episode

How Bernie Madoff Became the Monster of Wall Street

No one knows when Bernie Madoff created the Ponzi scheme that would one day lose $64 billion and ruin many lives. Madoff said it started late on. In this episode of Factual America, Joe Berlinger, director and executive producer of Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street, tells host, Matthew Sherwood, that he thinks it was right at the start of Madoff’s career, after he lost $30,000 of investors’ money and, upon receiving a loan to pay it back, chose to lie about what had happened rather than admit the truth.

Whatever the answer, Madoff did not act alone. Others helped him, both actively and – in the case of regulators and banks – through their negligence. Year after year, Madoff’s investments remained profitable despite this being financially impossible. He got away with it though, because, as Joe tells Matthew, ‘people just look the other way when greed is involved.’

In the end, it took a ‘Black Swan’ event – the 2008 financial crisis – to bring Madoff’s sham success to a cataclysmic end.

With his own longstanding interest in stock markets and thirty years experience as a documentary filmmaker, Joe Berlinger is the ideal man to tell the story of Bernie Madoff’s rise and fall. As well as discussing Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, Joe and Matthew look at how what happened with Madoff finds an echo today with the unfolding FTX scandal. They also discuss whether or not Joe worries about standing out from other filmmakers, and the struggle he had to distribute his first film, Brother’s Keeper, in 1992.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“I wanted to dissect the Ponzi and how it worked, and what all those red flags were and why it's representative of such incompetence, or worse, on the part of a lot of institutions that should have known better...I wanted people to understand just how easy it is to manipulate and cheat the system in part as a cautionary tale.” – Joe Berlinger

Next Episode

Pelosi in the House – a life of service in troubling times

In the course of her 36 year – and counting – political career, Nancy Pelosi has redefined what American women may achieve in politics.

Two stints as House Speaker and twenty years as leader of the House Democrats have made her one of the most important female politicians of the early twenty-first century.

With her every step of the way has been her daughter, Alexandra, whose new HBO/Sky documentary, Pelosi in the House, is the fruit of their relationship as well as over thirty years of work.

Alexandra joins Matthew Sherwood to discuss a diverse range of topics, including the use of an iPhone as a weapon during the January 6 insurrection, what it was like filming both her mother and in the Capitol, American decline, and when the USA was at its best.

Their conversation ranges from the homely as they find a point of connection in their children’s names, to the solemn, when Matthew asks if Alexandra sees any hope for the USA in the future, to the serious, as Alexandra discusses the toxicity of social media, which nearly lead to the murder of her father.

Alexandra holds nothing back; she says it as she sees it; whether they are talking about the powerful, her employers at HBO, or even herself. She is forthright, frank, and funny. This is a conversation you will not want to miss.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“The person that I put on my film is the person that I have known my entire life. There isn't another version of her that exists.” – Alexandra Pelosi