{"id":183515,"date":"2025-10-01T22:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183515\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T22:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:02:10","slug":"susan-powter-documentary-stop-the-insanity-to-get-theatrical-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183515\/","title":{"rendered":"Susan Powter Documentary ‘Stop The Insanity’ To Get Theatrical Release"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: Newly launched distribution company Obscured Releasing<\/a> has acquired North American rights to Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter<\/a>, the documentary about the fitness and nutrition powerhouse who became a sensation in the 1990s only to later disappear.<\/p>\n

\n\tObscured plans to release the Zeberiah Newman<\/a> film theatrically on November 19 in Los Angeles with additional markets to follow. Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis<\/a>, who appears in the film, serves as an executive producer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the \u201990s, pop culture icon Susan Powter<\/a> burst onto the scene with her signature bleach-blonde buzz cut and bold message of health and wellness,\u201d notes a description of the film. \u201cAfter conquering infomercials, becoming a New York Times bestselling author, hosting her own talk show, and seeing her face on thousands of products, she dramatically walked away from Hollywood and into obscurity. Crippling lawsuits with her business partners left her bankrupt, and she has since lived as a total recluse below the poverty line in Las Vegas, where the filmmaker ultimately finds her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Susan<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSusan Powter appears on \u2018The Tonight Show with Jay Leno\u2019 on March 7, 1994.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMargaret Norton\/NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tThe synopsis continues, \u201cThis documentary explores the meteoric rise and subsequent fall of Susan Powter while asking what it will take to bring her back to audiences\u2014and whether her message, Stop The Insanity, is still as relevant and powerful today as it was in the early \u201990s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jamie<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJamie Lee Curtis and Susan Powter<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tObscured Releasing\/Zables & Associates<\/p>\n

\n\tCurtis, who bears a striking resemblance to Powter, executive produces alongside John Redmann, Celia Aniskovich, and Chad Hines. In a statement, the Everything Everywhere All at Once star said, \u201cSusan Powter\u2019s story of personal, professional, spiritual reclamation of self is one I am proud to be a small part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis marks the initial acquisition for Obscured Releasing, the company formed by RJ Millard and Bill Guentzler. \u201cObscured Releasing is proud to release Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter as part of its inaugural slate,\u201d Millard and Guentzler said. \u201cFilmmaker Zeberiah Newman brilliantly and delicately captures the energy and essence of Susan Powter through sensitive camerawork and intimate interviews, all while highlighting the inextinguishable power of Susan\u2019s spirit and her fight to take back her name and career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNewman, a former producer of The Late Late Show with James Corden, previously directed Right to Try<\/a> (2021), Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story<\/a> (2023), and Unleashing Hope (2025), among other short films.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThrilled my first feature documentary has found a home with Obscured Releasing,\u201d Newman commented. \u201cMaking this film became a trial of creativity, resourcefulness, and sheer endurance. I\u2019m so proud and excited that audiences will get a chance to see Susan\u2019s story and hear her message of survival and hope. \u2018Stop the Insanity\u2019 is a theme we need now more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Susan<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSusan Powter with director Zeberiah Newman at the world premiere of \u2018Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter\u2019 at the Bentonville Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJason Davis\/Getty Images for Bentonville Film Festival<\/p>\n

\n\tStop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter premiered in June<\/a> at the Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas in a sold-out screening. At a Q&A which I moderated afterwards, Newman talked about how he tracked down Powter, who had been laying low for years.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI started looking for Susan about a year before I actually met her,\u201d Newman explained. \u201cI had a meeting with someone, and they were talking about fitness in the \u201880s. And then immediately I remembered Susan from the \u201890s and I just was like, \u2018What happened to her? Where did she go? We haven\u2019t heard anything. We don\u2019t see anything.\u2019 And so I started calling yoga studios and health farms and women\u2019s groups in maybe Seattle, Portland. I had no idea she was in Las Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOnce she agreed to take part in the film, Powter didn\u2019t hold back, revealing her struggles and how she became an Uber driver to eke out a living. At one point after she lost her fortune, she had to seek public assistance.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Susan<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSusan Powter in \u2018Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tObscured Releasing<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had to go to the welfare office, which I\u2019m fortunate enough never to have had to go [to before] \u2014 and it\u2019s not in any way a judgment or criticism,\u201d Powter told the audience in Bentonville. \u201cThat in and of itself was a horrifying day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe documentary is produced by Zeberiah Newman, Leah Turner, and Michiel Thomas. The acquisition deal was negotiated by O\u2019Brien Kelley of The Kelley Firm, PLLC on behalf of the filmmaker and Bill Guentzler and RJ Millard of Obscured Releasing. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Obscured<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tObscured Releasing<\/p>\n

\n\tObscured Releasing describes itself as a \u201cfilmmaker focused film distributor\u2026 The company acquires theatrical, digital and physical rights to narrative, documentary, and animated features for distribution throughout the United States and Canada. Obscured collaborates and partners with filmmakers to develop audience interaction through festival play, robust publicity campaigns, marketing outreach, and thoughtful release windows and strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Newly launched distribution company Obscured Releasing has acquired North American rights to Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,17353,344,117348,117349,117350,117351],"class_list":["post-183515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-jamie-lee-curtis","tag-movies","tag-obscured-releasing","tag-stop-the-insanity-finding-susan-powter","tag-susan-powter","tag-zeberiah-newman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}