Beyonce to direct, star in a new documentary

By Steven Zeitchik

Aug. 1, 2012 12 AM PT

EXCLUSIVE: Beyoncé Knowles has donned many guises in her entertainment career -- musical superstar, fashion icon, actress (yeah, we’ll even count her “Pink Panther” turn).

Now she’s looking to add a rather different notch: documentary director.

Knowles and her representatives at agency ICM have in recent weeks been shopping a nonfiction film to Hollywood studios about the celebrity’s life and career.

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According to a person familiar with the package who was not authorized to talk about it publicly, the movie is as a mix of music and personal study, blending concert footage with confessional interview. Knowles not only stars in the project but is directing it, and will also serve as a producer. About 20 minutes of footage has been shown to distributors.

A representative at Knowles’ agency did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Knowles certainly would have a lot to discuss in the doc. In the last 18 months, she’s released a top-selling album (“4”), split from her longtime manager (her father), and had a baby, Blue Ivy Carter, with husband Jay-Z, among other noteworthy events.

Although she’s attached to star in a potential remake of “A Star Is Born,” Knowles also has had a taste of the nonfiction film life. In June 2011, MTV aired “Beyoncé: Year of 4,” a “mini-documentary” that showed the artist taking time off and then returning to the recording studio.

Feature documentaries about musical superstars have come into vogue of late with movies from Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus. Though not always blockbusters (Perry’s “Part of Me” has grossed just $24 million since coming out last month), they continue to be appealing to the entertainment industry: The stars like the exposure in a new medium, while studios appreciate the movies’ built-in appeal and comparatively low cost.

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Steven Zeitchik

Steven Zeitchik is a former Los Angeles Times staff writer who covered film and the larger world of Hollywood for the paper from 2009 to 2017, exploring the personalities, issues, content and consequences of both the creative and business (and, increasingly, digital) aspects of our screen entertainment. He previously covered entertainment beats at Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, has contributed arts and culture pieces to the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times and has done journalistic tours of duty in Jerusalem and Berlin. While at The Times he has also reported stories in cities ranging from Cairo to Krakow, though Hollywood can still seem like the most exotic destination of all.