{"id":323209,"date":"2026-03-10T23:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/323209\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T23:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T23:24:14","slug":"whoopi-goldberg-documentary-coming-from-oscar-nominee-geeta-gandbhir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/323209\/","title":{"rendered":"Whoopi Goldberg Documentary Coming From Oscar Nominee Geeta Gandbhir"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tImagine Documentaries<\/a> and Message Pictures<\/a> have announced production of the \u201cdefinitive documentary\u201d on Whoopi Goldberg<\/a>, a film that\u2019s said to expand on the Oscar winner\u2019s autobiography Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me. Filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir<\/a>, who is nominated for two Academy Awards this year, will direct.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe documentary will be told in \u201cGoldberg\u2019s own words and drawing from an extraordinary trove of archival tapes, performance footage, and personal materials,\u201d according to a release. \u201cThe film offers an intimate look into the life of Goldberg n\u00e9e Caryn Elaine Johnson, the private, introverted, and deeply observant woman behind the audacious, boundary-breaking legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe release continues, \u201cTracing Goldberg\u2019s rise along with unadorned, observational verit\u00e9 of her today, through a window into her world never before granted. In the documentary, Goldberg takes us behind the scenes as she reimagines her groundbreaking 1984 Broadway debut one-woman show The Whoopi Monologues for Lincoln Center while balancing work with her producing partner of more than 30 years Tom Leonardis, developing new theater projects, spending time with her family and her new great-grandbaby, and building a quieter parallel life in Italy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\t\t\t\t\tDirector Geeta Gandbhir<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnthony Avellano for Deadline<\/p>\n

\n\tGandbhir earned the very rare distinction of earning Oscar nominations for two different films <\/a>in the same year: The Perfect Neighbor<\/a> (Netflix) competes on Sunday for Best Documentary Feature, while The Devil Is Busy<\/a> (HBO), co-directed with Christalyn Hampton, is nominated for Best Documentary Short.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, Gandbhir said, \u201cWhoopi Goldberg is a brilliant and groundbreaking storyteller who has shaped the landscape of entertainment for years. I, along with my partners Sam Pollard and Alisa Payne at Message Pictures, Whoopi\u2019s long-time producing partner Tom Leonardis, President of Whoop, Inc, and Imagine Documentaries are honored to bring her story to life in this documentary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cImagine is thrilled to reunite with my friend and longtime collaborator the exceptional Geeta Gandbhir, Tom Leonardis and Message Pictures on this extraordinary opportunity to celebrate the singular icon that is Whoopi Goldberg,\u201d said Sara Bernstein, president of Imagine Documentaries. \u201cThe world needs more Whoopi!\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\t\t\t\t\tWhoopi Goldberg on \u2018The View\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSteve Fenn\/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong with Imagine Documentaries and Message Pictures, the project is being produced in association with One Hoe Productions, Goldberg\u2019s company. The View host and EGOT winner is in pre-production on Sister Act 3, the latest installment in the hit franchise (as of 2024, that project was said to be in need of adjustments following the death of co-star Maggie Smith. \u201cWe will get it done. We will get it done. It\u2019s just a shift,\u201d Goldberg told Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on The Tonight Show). <\/p>\n

\n\tImagine Documentaries is the powerhouse behind Grammy-award winning Music by John Williams, directed by Laurent Bouzereau, Emmy-award winning Jim Henson Idea Man, directed by Ron Howard, and Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything, directed by Jackie Jesko, among many other acclaimed nonfiction films.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imagine Documentaries and Message Pictures have announced production of the \u201cdefinitive documentary\u201d on Whoopi Goldberg, a film that\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,134412,174519,174520,409,111,139,69,12981],"class_list":["post-323209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-geeta-gandbhir","tag-imagine-documentaries","tag-message-pictures","tag-movies","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-whoopi-goldberg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}