This Documentary Will Be Our First Long Look At Rihanna

Rihanna is headed back to the big screen, this time as a documentary subject. Director Peter Berg, who cast Rihanna in his board game-inspired summer action spectacular Battleship, will be directing a theatrical feature documentary on the star, Deadline reports. Berg says the film will be akin to Don’t Look Back, a 1967 documentary focusing on the life and early career of Bob Dylan. His film will offer an “unfiltered look into Rihanna’s life and how she’s ascended to become a global icon,” according to Deadline. But don’t expect it to be a glorified concert movie. Though Berg is fascinated by the possibility of featuring “a young artist at the top of her professional field,” he views the project as “much more a character study than a music film.” Rihanna is notoriously reticent about allowing people to interview her. Miranda July’s profile for T Magazine came under fire for not featuring enough of the singer, instead emphasizing July’s thoughts on the matter. The Awl, for example, called for the release of the full transcript of the interview, a step usually reserved for politicians or other such figures. Berg’s documentary figures to feature, you know...Rihanna. A lot. So we’ll get to pull back the curtain on a singer that is mysterious despite her constant presence in the public eye.