“I watched it with her,” Michael D. Ratner says.
“It was pretty intense.
She actually paused it about eight seconds in.”
Demi Lovato in docuseries ‘Dancing With the Devil’.YouTube Originals
“I applaud Demi for her bravery,” director Michael D. Ratner tells EW.
“It’s not easy to talk about this stuff.
But she is excited about the dialogue that it’s going to spark, and so am I.”
How did you prepare for it?
Little did I know how much of her story I didnotknow.
How did you approach getting the full story?
With something as heavy as this, there’s always going to be hesitancy by everybody.
That was where a lot of that trust and process was built.
And then I sat down for four long interviews with Demi.
Dani Vitale [her former creative director] was later.
What was your ultimate goal with this project?
You’re not defined by your lowest moments.
She’s tried that at different points in her life, and the pressure was too much for her.
Here, she’s presenting herself as a flawed human being.
She’s also not trying to tell anybody that she’s fixed.
I don’t think this documentary even leaves her for somebody to have an “Aha, gotcha!”
We had a conversation day one where we had to both have similar visions for this.
So how trustworthy and reliable of a narrator is she in light of that?
Why should we believe what you’re saying?"
That’s not an easy question to answer there.
Are you worried at all about potential backlash after people watch it?
Did you have conversations with Demi about that?
As a filmmaker, it’s not really my place to comment on anybody’s personal situations.
When Demi saw the full doc for the first time, did you watch it with her?
I watched it with her.
It was pretty intense.
She actually paused it about eight seconds in and had like a physical reaction to it.
There is so much more to come!"
Then she gathered herself and we continued watching.
There are many parts throughout the doc that I could tell really hit home with her.
But when it ended she felt like the documentary serves as just cathartic art.
It was just the weight off her shoulders and so much that she wanted to say for so long.
It was pretty powerful to watch it with her.
The first two episodes ofDancing With the Devilare now streaming on YouTube.
