A&E Network Greenlights “Definitive” Documentary On Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Hip-Hop Icon And Founding Member Of Wu-Tang Clan

A&E Network has signed on for a feature documentary about Ol’ Dirty Bastard, the late founding member of pioneering hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan.

The film, under the working title Biography: Ol’ Dirty Bastard, will be co-directed by Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, Citizen Ashe) and Pollard’s son, editor Jason Pollard (Get Me Roger Stone, Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James). A&E promises a “definitive” look at the performer born Russell Jones, produced with the cooperation of ODB’s estate and featuring “a never-before-seen personal archive shot by his wife, Icelene Jones, and access to his closest friends and family.”

“This culture-defining special,” A&E says, “humanizes ODB as a man, a father, and a husband like never before… providing an intimate picture of ODB’s life and reflecting on his lasting impact on music and culture.”

The film is being produced by Pulse Films, with Four Screens and the Ol’ Dirty Bastard estate, and will center on ODB’s solo career, “from his first album release in 1995 until his untimely passing from a drug overdose in 2004,” according to a release. “A celebration of his artistry and legacy, the documentary is an unflinching look at the complexities of his life including addiction, adultery, fame, mental illness, sudden wealth, race and criminal justice, and will ask the question of just how complicit the media and music industry were in hastening his demise.”

“I am thrilled to tell the full story of my husband,” Icelene Jones said in a statement. “With this documentary the world will learn about the son, the husband, the father, and the artist. I’m proud of the team that we built, including Pulse, my producing partners Nicole Beckett and Messiah Jacobs at Four Screens, and our directing team, the Pollards.”

Sam Bridger, executive producer for Pulse Films, noted, “ODB completely redefined what it meant to be an MC. A genius who lived and breathed his art. We are thrilled to have Sam and Jason Pollard on board, who are the perfect filmmakers to tell this amazing story for the first time. There will never be anyone quite like ODB and we are so grateful to his family and friends for inviting us into his world.”

Despite his moniker, ODB died young, just two days short of his 36^th birthday, of an accidental drug overdose. One music writer described him as the “loose cannon” of Wu-Tang Clan, adding that he delivered his “outrageously profane, free-associative rhymes in a distinctive half-rapped, half-sung style… ODB came across as a mix of gonzo comic relief and not-quite-stable menace.” His former Wu-Tang Clan bandmate RZA called him a “visionary… a scientist and a minor prophet.”

“Biography: Ol’ Dirty Bastard will present viewers with the untold story of the man and the musician,” commented Elaine Frontain Bryant, EVP and head of programming at A&E. “[He] made an immense cultural impact across just a few short years.”

The upcoming documentary is produced by Pulse Films and Four Screens for A&E Network. Sam Pollard and Jason Pollard direct. Sam Bridger and Diene Pettrle serve as executive producers and Louis Mole serves as producer for Pulse Films. Messiah Jacobs, Nicole Beckett and Icelene Jones serve as the executive producers representing Four Screens and the Ol’ Dirty Bastard estate. Elaine Frontain Bryant and Brad Abramson serve as executive producers for A&E Network. A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights for Biography: Ol’ Dirty Bastard.