Gary Coleman Documentary Director Hopes Film Can “Cut Through Some of the Misinformation”
Upon his death in 2010 at age 42, the former Diff’rent Strokes star Gary Coleman was memorialized in many obituaries in a familiar way — as a brilliant child actor who encountered personal difficulties later on in life.
The new documentary Gary, on Peacock, seeks to bring a fresh perspective to his well-publicized story. Helmed by British director Robin Dashwood (Hitler’s Countdown to War), the film follows the famously full-cheeked, witty Coleman from his appearance in a bank commercial to his breakout as Arnold Jackson in Diff’rent Strokes (his oft-repeated catchphrase: “What you talkin’ ’bout, Willis?”). Featuring interviews with a broad array of people in Coleman’s life, including friends, his parents and ex-wife, the film documents some well-known periods of his life — his troubled marriage, arrests and health issues — as well as some lesser-known aspects, like his lifelong fascination with outer space and his excitement about working as a security guard as an adult.
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In an interview, Dashwood said that he hopes the film fills out a life that was subject to many tabloid headlines by the end. “Sure, there’s a cautionary tale in there that this is what can happen to child stars, but I hope people are moved by the fact that he was assailed by all these problems which went out of his control, but that he kept going,” he says. “He never gave up.”
The Hollywood Reporter also talked to Dashwood about “misinformation” percolating about some incidents in Coleman’s life and Coleman’s troubled relationship with his own celebrity.
What first got you interested in Gary Coleman as a potential documentary subject?
There’s been a rush of celebrity docs recently which have done well and seem to be popular, and I think [Peacock] thought, “Oh, no one’s done Gary Coleman.” They brought it as an idea to RAW, which is the production company in London who made it. Americans are very aware of lots of what happened to Gary Coleman, he’s part of the pop culture. In Britain he’s less well known, and I think [Peacock] probably thought that a British company could bring a fresh eye to it that wasn’t influenced by a lot of the stuff that’s been written over the years. RAW came to me and said, “Would you be interested in doing it?” I remember [Diff’rent Strokes] was on one of the TV channels here when I was a kid. So I was aware of it and watched it a bit and thought [Coleman] was great, but I knew nothing about what happened to him, nothing about the court case, nothing about his illness, nothing about his move to Utah and his tempestuous marriage to Shannon [Price]. I was fascinated to delve into it and discover all this stuff for myself. And I just thought it was an absolutely tragic story, but with this indomitable spirit at the heart of it, which is what Gary was. So that was the appeal.
The film has access to so many key figures in Gary’s story. What was the process like of convincing them to appear in the documentary?
Some people were very happy to appear: People like Todd [Bridges] was very happy to talk, his agent Victor Perillo was very happy to talk. Others were less keen: The parents took a lot of persuading and Shannon took a lot of persuading. They were the sticky ones, but we just entered into a fairly lengthy process by which we talked to them. We met the parents, we went on a trip last autumn to where they live and took them out for lunch in a bid to persuade them. They’re wary, obviously, of the media after everything that’s happened, and they agreed. And Shannon took a little bit longer, but she came around and I think she kind of realized that if we were doing a big doc about Gary, then it would be odd if other people were telling her story for her. She recognized the benefit of being able to give her side of the story on camera.
As you mentioned, in the U.S. there was significant media coverage of Coleman during his life. What do you hope surprises audiences about Coleman’s story?
What we hope we do is cut through a lot of the rumors and tittle-tattle to basically present the facts as far as we know them. I found when interviewing and talking to the key people that they all have their own version of what happened, which they rigidly stick to, and often it contradicts what other people say. And I think the truth is somewhere in there. What we’re trying to do is just lay out as much as we can the facts of what happened.
There’s been a lot of gossip about what happened in the court case, but we kind of lay out the facts. Similarly, with Shannon and the relationship, a lot of people gossip about the way [Coleman] might’ve died and whether she had a hand in it. What I found interesting when I interviewed people is that they didn’t necessarily know that the police had investigated and found there was no evidence of foul play. So I’m hoping that we can cut through some of the misinformation that’s out there. And I think people watching this documentary will make their own minds up from the evidence that we present.
Coleman’s friend Anna says in the film that he specifically asked for no funeral or headstone upon his death because, he said, “I want to be left alone in the end.” Did you wrestle with this wish of his in making a documentary about him?
That’s a good question. Of course, I didn’t know that he’d said that until after we began the project. And yes, there is that side of it, but I think because we got the blessing of people like Anna and Dion, who were the two people he was probably closest to throughout the bulk of his life, I think we felt that we were on safe ground. And I hope that what the film does is honor him and portray him as he was. That’s my hope. I can’t ask him, sadly, but I hope it reminds people, first of all, what an amazing talent he was, but, second of all, how sad his life turned out to be for a large number of reasons, none of which were in his control.
Did making this documentary change or alter your view on child acting?
Yes, it made me think. I know nothing about the situation now in Hollywood with how child stars are treated and how their money is chopped up and taken by people who work for them, but what Gary went through seems highly unfair in that so much money was taken completely above the board and legally by agents, business managers, lawyers and tax, obviously. So he was left with a fair amount, but not a huge amount. But I also think, to be honest, would you ever allow your child to become a child star? I’m not sure I would. I’m not sure it climbs a path to a happy, healthy life. But obviously there are people who have proved that you can be a child star and grow up to be and have a successful career, [like] Jason Bateman and [others]. But I’m not sure watching this film I’d be pushing my child into performing in Hollywood or anywhere.
What do you hope viewers ultimately take away from this film about Coleman and his life?
I’d really like for people to remember how brilliant he was. Especially in the first three series of Diff’rent Strokes, he’s so incredible and has such great comic timing. Sure, there’s a cautionary tale in there that this is what can happen to child stars, but I hope people are moved by the fact that he was assailed by all these problems which went out of his control, but that he kept going. He kept picking himself up and carrying on. He never gave up. He still would find a job he wanted to work even if it wasn’t acting, which is why he took the security guard job. I think he was in a lot of ill health through a lot of his life and didn’t feel good, but he caught up and carried on, which I think is inspirational.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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August 30, 1:44 p.m. Victor Perillo, Coleman’s former agent, says he sold the idea of a Gary Coleman documentary to Peacock in the first place but sought to tell a story about “what [Coleman] did for the industry” rather than a tale “that he was troubled, his parents took money from him.” Perillo, who disputes claims voiced in the documentary that Coleman was ever encouraged to work when he was sick and that his parents funneled significant amounts of money of Coleman’s earnings to themselves, adds, “To say that his life was troubled is such a lie because he had fun when he worked. His life changed when the Svengalis came into his life and it went south.” (Coleman settled with his parents and business manager in 1993 after a judge found they had inappropriately obtained $1.28 million of his earnings.)
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