Real life slams a window on Sam Mendes’ voyeurism movie

But now, real life has slammed a window shut on Mendes’ directorial intent. The director (and his partners at DreamWorks) recently learned that Talese and Foos were quietly concealing the fact that filmmakers Myles Kand and Josh Koury were also making a movie about Foos’ life. And while Mendes was quick to heap praise on the pair’s documentary—calling it “absolutely terrific, a really, really good movie that has incredible footage in it”—he also said told Deadline that “Well, that just finishes the movie.” (Ironically Mendes learned about the documentary from Deadline itself, noting that he read about it in their “esteemed…what would you call it, an organ?”, because no part of this story can be entirely clear of a weirdly sexual taint.)

Mendes said he felt “blindsided” by the existence of the documentary project, which apparently has a similar meta-fictional approach to his own plans for the film. And so, he decided to pull out of the million-dollar deal to acquire the rights to the article, cutting Foos and Talese off from a massive payday. He did encourage viewers to go see Kand and Koury’s doc—still untitled—when it makes its way to theaters, though, which will hopefully come as some consolation to everybody involved.