One of the longest films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was also the most harrowing and controversial. Leaving Neverland, spanning two parts and four hours, goes into the childhood experience of James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who were befriended by Michael Jackson. Decades later, the men recount reckoning an idyllic fantasy turned into something far darker.
Directed by Dan Reed, the sex abuse documentary will now arrive on early March on HBO and the first trailer has arrived. Justin Chang at Los Angeles Times said, “The sheer variety and volume of horrifying disclosures made here — Safechuck’s steady recall of every room at the ranch where Jackson abused him is truly the stuff of nightmares — make “Leaving Neverland” both riveting and grueling, impossible to turn away from and the definition of a tough sit.”
Check out the trailer below and Sundance Q&A.
Leaving Neverland airs on HBO on March 3 and 4.