Amy Berg succeeds in showing a side of Janis Joplin that the world has never seen before with her biographical documentary “Janis: Little Girl Blue.”
Directed by Amy Berg, “Janis: Little Girl Blue” documents the bittersweet success of Rock ‘n’ Roll legend Janis Joplin. With access to Janis’s estate, help from Janis’s siblings and letters Janis wrote to her family throughout her rise to fame, “Janis: Little Girl Blue” paints a telling picture of the vulnerable side of the icon. Another key figure in Janis’s life, who often goes unnoticed is Janis’s last boyfriend, a.k.a. the love of her life, David Niehaus, who sheds light on Amy’s drug abuse towards her overdose. Publicly known for her tough exterior and painfully poignant music, Janis takes new form through the voice of Cat Power who narrates Janis’s intimate letters. The documentary shows Janis’s progression from Port Arthur outcast to San Fran beatnik to Woodstock rock star. The SVA theater held a special screening of “Janis: Little Girl Blue” last Sunday for DOC NYC with guests from the movie in attendance including Clive Davis, Dick Cavett, Marky Ramone, Ron Clairborne and “Girls” star Jemima Kirke. We hit the red carpet and were able to chat with director Amy Berg, Clive Davis and Dick Cavett about their experiences with the legend and their role in bringing the story together.
Did you look to Janis’s biographies when you were creating the film?
Amy Berg: All of them, I mean I read some of them as a teenager and read “Buried Alive” when I was 18.
How do you relate to Janis?
Amy Berg: In so many different ways, she’s a woman trying to fight for her place, even though I was just saying there’s so many females in the community (documentarians), we still are in kind of a man’s world in the film business and you’re constantly fighting for any presence and I think that Janis paved the path for us in that way because she was fighting in 1965 and she’s like the first woman of rock and she was setting some new roles for us for women.
What was your favorite part about the process?
Amy Berg: Everything. Just editing was so fun. I would love to just stay in that bubble and just find different ways to tell that story that for sure was the best part for me.
What’s your favorite Janis song?
Amy Berg: It depends on the day. I love all of her music, but you play things so many times at the end of it that you burn out on one thing and move on to another thing. “Summertime” was a big one for me, but right now I would say I’m interested in the energy behind “Move Over” that just felt like a really aggressive angry song and I like the way it plays in the film.
Speaking of interviews, Janis debuted on national television on your show, can you talk about the experience of interviewing her?
Dick Cavett: It was great fun because she was up for it and liked being there and apparently she liked me and she was smart as hell probably the smartest graduate from that high school she was gonna go back and destroy by going to her reunion and she was a delight. I think she was on 4 or 5 times and every time was good.
What’s your favorite Janis song?
Dick Cavett: “Down On Me” because I thought it was a dirty title and we were at Elaine’s and someone saw her come in and put that song on and she told me the title and I said ‘can you do that on television?’ and she said ‘it’s a gospel’
Can you describe the first time you saw Janis perform at the Monterey Pop Festival?
Clive Davis: it was hypnotic and changed the rest of my life. It was chilling and memorable in every way and to relive such a wonderful performance has been enormously emotional.
What’s your favorite Janis song?
Clive Davis: I would say I have a few favorite songs; My first favorite song is “Piece of My Heart.” It was a favorite when I first heard it in person. I had a part of editing that song from the album version to the single version which ignited Big Brother and the Holding Company’s career and of course my memory is still very vivid of listening on the telephone to Janis the week she died of her playing for me “Me & Bobby McGee” and I had been involved business wise with Kris Kristofferson and his publishing company so I was familiar with the song before I heard Janis sing, but to hear how she did it and how she loved it is very present with me to this day.
After the screening there was a brief Q & A with Amy Berg, Dick Cavett and David Niehaus. Cavett still played coy when asked if he was romantically involved with Janis and mentioned how he was shocked when she responded “who would care?” when he brought up her heroin use. He and Amy discussed her disappointment when she returned Port Arthur for her 10th annual high school reunion. They also discussed the similarities between Janis and Judy Garland and how their presence and control on stage drastically contrasted their lives post-performance. Amy Berg also mentioned that part of what inspired her to tell Janis’s story were the love letters between Janis and the potential of saving Janis’ life had she seen the telegram from Niehaus the day she overdosed. David also spoke about how she was simultaneously vulnerable and strong and made a group of Hell’s Angels clean their house and buy their groceries one night when they were robbing Janis and David. The Q & A shed helped lighten the mood as well better understand the depth of Janis’s impact.
Following the screening and Q+A, guests headed downtown to Electric Lady Studios for a rooftop party by Piccolo Café.
The film opens in New York on November 27th, 2015
