Brett favre documentary film director talks about Netflix Film

Netflix 'documentary “Untold: The Fall of Favre” examines Brett Favre's football career and controversy.
The director Rebecca Gitlitz aimed at a balanced presentation and presented facts and aimed several perspectives.
The film examines Favres NFL success, Jenn Sterger's allegations and the Mississippi Wohlfahrtsktskandal.

Brett Favre – Mississippi legend and Lightning Rod – is the focus of a new Netflix documentary.

“Untold: The Fall of Favre” will premiere on Tuesday, May 20, on May 20. The one -hour feature immerse yourself in Mississippi in Favre's beginnings. The film is part of the “Untold” -Stor series from Netflix and in collaboration with Front Office Sports.

The Clarion Ledger and the Hattiesburg American came together with Rebecca Gitlitz, the director of the new documentary, last week. Gitlitz, a winning director twice who was crowned with the director awarded the Emmy, has led films to other controversial figures such as Rudy Giuliani. Previously, she worked as a sports manager for time studios and spent more than two decades in sports media.

“This is a story that was very much in the zeitgeist, had a lot of nuances to have a lot to unpack, so I really had the opportunity to really be in something that I think people thought, but they knew, but much more complexity, and that is the type of history that I was very happy to be part of Gitlitz,” said Gitlitz.

And there is certainly a lot to unpack. The film examines Favre's football career from its time at the University of Southern Mississippi to his NFL years with the Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings. It underlines its ascent as a “Gunslinger” and its fame in Mississippi, comparable to athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

But it also follows the many scandals that affect Favre. Jenn Sterger, a model and TV personality who worked for the New York Jets in 2008 – is prominently presented in the same year as Favre. Dterger claims that Favre, who is married, sent her unwanted text messages, voicemails and explicit photos during her time with the New York Jets.

“I think a lot is about believing women,” said Gitlitz. “If she had been listened to, her story would have been told, I don't think we would sit here today.

“We tried to return her voice in a way that she deserved,” added Gitlitz.

The film also covers Favre's participation in questionable sports drug companies and the 1 million US dollars for the speech fees for which it was paid for, but which he never did. The most serious controversy focuses on the Mississippi welfare scandal, in which Favre is accused of helping funnel funds to a volleyball stadium in Southern while his daughter played there. He denies misconduct, but remains a defendant in a civil lawsuit.

A balance between the representation of Favre as a sports hero and as a faulty individual was the key for Gitlitz.

“Everything I could not justify, we didn't use it,” said Gitlitz. “I was not interested in a kind of radiant rumor mill. I was interested in presenting facts. There are numerous stories that have to be unpacked here, and I decided on all sides of the story.”

It is important to recognize favre's achievements and controversy to tell an honest, balanced story, she said.

“I hope that people only understand the whole story,” added Gitlitz. “I just want people to understand the full picture and then allow them to have a conclusion that they would like to have. But please know all the facts as soon as they look at their conclusion.”

Gitlitz said that she was thinking about a Favre project for a few years when she worked in Time Studios, but when the news about the Mississippi welfare scandal broke out in which she was all. Overall, she said she spent “two or three years” to make the film.

“The scandal broke in 2020, but in 2022 it really came that this puzzle had an important, larger piece, including (with) it (favre) when the texts came out when Prevacus came out.” Then I really said that there was something bigger here, and then we found the pain cream, then we found Jenn (dying), then we found Oak Grove and it was a circle of How how we put together everything. “

But since Mississippi's welfare scandal is still making its way through the legal system, Gitlitz said that they were “difficult” to navigate the sources with which it was hoping. This includes everyone who is involved in the ongoing civil lawsuit that is supposed to recapture millions of dollars of the failure of the failure of the failures. It also includes the experienced journalist Anna Wolfe, who finally won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the welfare scandal.

“It had to be people outside of this area who can talk about it,” said Gitlitz.

Another person who tried Gitlitz to reach in the film? Favre itself.

“We gave him the opportunity. We asked him. We asked his lawyers. We said:” Would you like to have someone speaking in your name? '”Said Gitlitz. “I wanted to make sure it is balanced. Of course I would have loved to have him (Favre) part of it, it is exactly the way things go.”

Contact Charlie Drape at cdrape@gannett.com.

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