I had the great opportunity to attend the world premiere of Stormy, a new documentary from Peacock. It is directed by Sarah Gibson (Britney Vs. Spears) and produced by Judd Apatow, based on the life of Stormy Daniels and the chaotic turn her life took after it came out that she had sex with former president Donald Trump. The hush money that she was paid to keep her silent ended up putting the president in legal trouble.
The film covers her early life and her introduction to the adult entertainment industry. The time in which
she met Donald Trump. We get to see the prize she pays with this new fame as she is receiving death
threats, and her marriage falls apart. Just to show how serious her situation is there was a bomb sniffing
dog checking for bombs on the stage before the screening. The screening also had the most security I
seen at SXSW.
STORMY is quite an intimate and revealing film about her private life. We get to see scary moments when
she is arrested for flashing her boobs to an undercover cop, being threatened by a stranger while being
out with her daughter, and someone tampering the FBI crime database and connected her with felonies
she never committed.
The documentary does an excellent job in showing the damage being haunted by the press can take on
someone and their family. The film also has the perfect villains such Donald Trump that is constantly
deriding her online. While at the same time she is facing a secret villain of her former lawyer Michael
Avenatti that was helping her legal case; but she discovered she was stealing money from her book deal
behind her back. We even get to see on camera the moment she discovers his actions. Stormy is also
amazing as she is very funny and gives some incredible insight into the situation she is living in.
The screening did not have a Q & A as Stormy just gave some words about the film and the people that
helped make it. She revealed a story when she got her first mainstream movie role in Judd Apatow’s 40-
Year-Old Virgin. Her stepdaughter dies during the making of the film and she had to step away to mourn.
She thought they were going to recast her small part, but they didn’t. They waited to shoot the scene
until she was ready to come back and Apatow got her flowers. I am glad to know Apatow is such a great
human being. I hope that in the future when she is being introduced there will be no need to refer to her as porn star Stormy Daniels. Here we get to see the real person.
STORMY and many more movies like it are playing at SxSW Film & TV. For more information visit www.sxsw.com!