The first trailer and poster for the new Liza Minnelli documentary, “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story,” has debuted.
The poster features a red, white, light blue and black illustration of a young Minnelli, with her signature pixy hair style and long eyelashes, by artist Kii Arens.
The trailer opens with Minnelli sitting in a chair and singing a snippet – “Gather around, I got a story to tell” – form the song “Ring Them Bells.” It shows footage of the EGOT winner throughout her more than 50-year career, as well as interviews with her sister Lorna Luft, the late Chita Rivera, Michael Feinstein and Darren Criss. Ben Vereen is shown tearing up talking about the legendary entertainer and daughter of Hollywood royalty, Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli.
Mia Farrow talks about being at Minnelli and David Gest’s wedding. “Oh, my god,” she exclaims.
Minnelli herself is seen talking to the camera at the end of the trailer saying, “How lucky am I to have gone though all of the bad stuff that I have gone through because it prepared me for the rest of my life.”
Kii Arens, courtesy Atlas Media Corp
Written and directed by Bruce David Klein, the film premiered at this year’s Tribeca Festival and was also screened at the Hamptons Film Festival, the Provincetown Film Festival and the NewFest LGBTQ+ Film Festival. It is a production of Atlas Media Corp in collaboration with Zietgeist Films and Kino Lorber.
“I’m thrilled this documentary shares the story of how my creative voice came to life with the help of my brilliant friends, mentors and collaborators,” Minnelli said in a statement. “Bruce and his team dove deep to explore my relationships with the people who literally ‘invented me’ — and I can’t wait for movie audiences to experience it!”
The doc also includes never-before-seen footage of Minnelli during her 1970s European tour. “As soon as we pressed play on the first reel of footage, we were blown away,” Klein said. “Right in front of us was this beautiful, vulnerable superstar of stage and screen at the height of her powers. She was literally the ‘it’ girl of the world at that time. Even the personal scenes of her just hanging out were fascinating and revealing. Our team really got a feel for who she was and what drove her.”
“Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story” opens Jan. 24, 2025 at IFC Center in New York City, Jan. 31 at Laemmle’s Royal in Los Angeles and Town Center in Encino, Calif., followed by a national rollout.
