‘Superstar’: Todd Haynes Says His Banned Carpenters Movie May Finally Get An Official Release

What’s Todd Haynes up to since his first documentary, “The Velvet Underground,” about the iconic band, won over critics at Cannes last year and audiences on AppleTV+? He has “May December” on deck, announced at the virtual Cannes market last June, which reunites the director with Julianne Moore and will be his first time working with Natalie Portman. But Haynes may also have another film coming out soon too, and it’s one that fans of the director have wanted for a long time.

READ MORE: Oscar-Winners Natalie Portman & Julianne Moore To Lead Todd Haynes Drama ‘May December’

In an interview with EW, Haynes disclosed that his short film, “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story,” had recently been remastered, and he’s hopeful about a future release. “It has been remastered by UCLA and Sundance a couple years ago,” said Haynes, “and it looks so beautiful. Every time I see it now, I’m just like, Oh, man, I’m so lucky that we have this version out there.” As for the movie’s potential rerelease, Haynes said, “Yes, it’ll happen. It’s not something we’re working on at the moment, but it’s going to happen — it will happen, yeah.”

So, why is a new release of “Superstar” so exciting? Well, the short is a holy grail for Todd Haynes fans. The experimental film uses Barbie dolls along with documentary footage to depict the last seventeen years of Karen’s musical career as she struggles with both anorexia and the limelight of the pop music industry. But the movie’s been banned from circulation since Richard Carpenter, Karen’s brother and the other half of the musical group The Carpenters, filed a lawsuit against Haynes in 1990, which the director lost. Since then, the film has been next to impossible to see.

But now, Haynes thinks he can give the movie the release it deserves at some point. “There have been some legal opinions written about the film that seem favorable to a way through,” he said. “But there’s a lot more work that I need to do that I haven’t had time to, which is annotate the film and provide all of the sources of information and so forth. It’s been shown a couple of times, not announced publicly, and not for any fee, not for any ticket, under the terms of its cease and desist.”  

It’s nice to hear “Superstar” still has its secret screenings every now and then, as it feels very in line with Haynes’ experimentalism and connection to underground cinema earlier in his career. But an official release of “Superstar” would also be a coup for Haynes, as critics see the short as a major touchstone in the director’s career.

So, with any luck, Haynes will focus on “Superstar” after finishing work on “May December.” The director’s latest follows a married couple who buckles under the pressure when an actress comes to live with them to do research for a film about their notorious tabloid romance from twenty years before. That’s a different kind of a metamodern approach to film narrative than “Superstar,” but since it’s Todd Haynes, it will be nothing short of excellent.

Catch “The Velvet Underground” on AppleTV+ now.