Via The Hollywood Reporter, Osmosis Global has acquired the distribution rights to the controversial documentary Stan Lee: The Final Years. The film, directed by Lee’s former assistant Jon Bolerjack, is compiled from hours of footage he shot of the Marvel legend before his death in 2018, and is set to premiere at the Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles on Saturday, June 27.
Key art courtesy of Dances With Films
Per the official synopsis, The Final Years chronicles the “shocking and deeply heartbreaking story” of how Lee’s “signatures and memorabilia were converted into huge sums of money, while rival figures and competing interests battled for influence over [his] fortune and legacy.” The film was announced last year when Bolerjack launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund its release, which ended amid controversy over the use of the platform’s model, and the director’s motives, after it gained the backing of Convrsly Productions.
THR states the finished film cost about $500,000 to produce, partly because of legal fees stemming from the unflattering light it paints some of Lee’s management in, with footage of “an exhausted and overworked Lee being carted around to various signings and appearances”. Bolerjack says that one of the individuals he recorded even tried to stop the release of the film, which he adds Lee gave his blessing.
He comments, “Witnessing the treatment that Stan endured during those final years, especially at his age, really changes you. The people around him believed they were untouchable, and I felt a responsibility to document what was happening. It took ten years to finish this film, but sharing the truth about those years is something I owed to Stan and to his fans.”
The film has a 110 min runtime, and will also feature Rob Liefeld and Roy Thomas. You can watch a clip, featuring Lee and Bolerjack in a lighter moment, complete with the Man dropping the f-bomb, in the meantime:
