There’s a Kickstarter campaign to finish a documentary following Stan Lee’s final years titled Stan Lee: Final Years. Unfortunately, it’s stirred up some controversy.
Stan Lee: Final Years aims to be a groundbreaking documentary showing how the legend was used and abused in his final years. Of course Stan Lee is resposible for Marvel. Stan Lee has been dead for years now, which has many people wondering why they would just now want to get the film out there. On the other end, there could be NDAs that could’ve expired by now, and that might be why they’re just now announcing the film’s production.
Of course, it takes a ton of money to make a film or documentary. Especially if you are doing one on such a high-profile person like Stan Lee. The trailer shows a decent amount of footage already edited together. I’m not saying the film couldn’t be made right now for no money. The problem arises with how much money they’re asking for. Kickstarter is asking for $300,000 to cover the remaining production costs.
As with most Kickstarter or crowdfunding campaigns, there are tiers of how much you can donate in the rewards given for donating to said tier. The tiers themselves on the fundraiser seem to be somewhat in bad taste, according to a lot of people online. Each tier has a supposed “collector’s item.” I understand that the filmmaker’s position is that they are going to want to have something fun for the people to get once they donate. But unfortunately, this is a difficult circumstance.
The intention seemed to be pure about getting a story out there about one of the most important men in pop culture being abused in his final years. But asking for this much money seems a little bit sour. I feel like the documentary could be done at a cheaper price.
Maybe even some sort of donation given to elder abuse or a charity that Stan Lee was passionate about with each donation. They could cut back on a couple of costs of a few things, and then have a small percentage go towards a charity of some sort. In the situation they’re currently in. It might be a hard sale, but so far they have made over $25,000.
Jon Bolerjack, the director of this documentary, said this of Stan Lee’s opinion on filming all of this, “I think he wanted it out there to be that sort of warning.” Without seeing all the footage or knowing more than that, it’s hard to say if Stan Lee wanted to have had this out there.
That’s the problem with someone of his age: figuring out what’s right for them before they pass. Unless there’s a part in the documentary where Stan Lee talks about the importance of getting all of this filmed and wanting it out there, it’s hard to say if this will go without its controversies.
