“Golden,” a musical inspired by the life of Pharrell Williams and directed by “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” filmmaker Michel Gondry, is being scrapped and will not be released by Universal, despite the film being in post-production and featuring a star-studded cast.
Williams and Gondry in a joint statement to IndieWire said that they mutually agreed they “can’t deliver this film,” and Variety, which first reported the news, added that it will not be released in any form or shopped by Universal to other buyers.
“When all of us got into the editing room we collectively decided there wasn’t a path forward to tell the version of this story that we originally envisioned. We appreciate all the hard work of the talented cast and crew. While we’re disappointed, we can’t deliver this film, we have incredible partners at Universal and will collaborate in a different capacity again soon,” Williams and Gondry said in a statement.
“Golden,” originally titled “Atlantis,” was a musical set during Williams’ coming-of-age years in the 1970s growing up in Virginia Beach. It starred Kelvin Harrison Jr., Halle Bailey, Brian Tyree Henry, Janelle Monáe, Missy Elliott, Quinta Brunson, Anderson .Paak, Jaboukie Young-White, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in what would’ve been her first role since winning an Oscar for “The Holdovers.” Universal had even set a release date of May 5.
While there’s some recent horror stories of completed films never seeing the light of day, such as “Coyote vs. Acme” or “Batgirl,” those movies were shelved as tax write-offs by the studio rather than the creators. In this case, the creators themselves (Williams was a producer alongside Mimi Valdes and Gil Netter) are pulling the plug with the film already shot.
As a result, Variety reported that Universal is expected to swallow $20 million of production costs and that the film was in the early stages of post-production, meaning that it won’t be completed. Variety added via sources that everyone involved has been paid for work completed.
Williams has a creative partnership with Universal, which set up and financed “Golden.” He wrote “Happy” for the “Despicable Me” franchise, and Universal’s specialized arm Focus Features last year released the documentary about his life, “Piece by Piece,” which was animated entirely in Lego form. The movie made $10.6 million at the worldwide box office.
It’s unclear what creatively about the movie could not be salvaged. Pharrell, while on the press tour for “Piece by Piece,” said that while the documentary was about his life, “Golden” was about his childhood neighborhood and that specifically it was a film that celebrated “Black joy.”
“It’s a coming-of-age story about self-discovery and pursuing your dreams, but it’s so much more magical than that. It’s a celebration of Black life, Black culture, and most importantly, Black joy,” he previously told Empire.
The Oscar-winning Gondry’s next project is “Maya, Give Me a Title,” which is screening at the Berlin Film Festival.
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