There have been many projects devoted to the life of Timothy Leary. But none have looked at the life of the psychologist and LSD proponent quite like the new film by director Errol Morris, which is set to arrive on Showtime later this year.
As seen in the first “trailer” for the film currently titled “A Film By Errol Morris,” the filmmaker looks at the life of Leary through the eyes of someone that knew him in a way few did, Joanna Harcourt-Smith. The woman that is featured in the new documentary had a love affair with Leary and bonded in a way that many people can’t begin to imagine, as is evident in the clip from the film. Dubbed a “trailer,” you can hardly compare the video to a typical marketing advertisement for a film, as Showtime is basically just releasing a clip explaining how Harcourt-Smith became involved with Leary after sharing LSD.
“This is a dream project,” Morris said. “I’m always looking for alternative ways into a story. You never want to go through the front door. Or even the back door. Much better to find an attic window that has been left ajar. Joanna Harcourt-Smith, who had a love affair with Timothy Leary, wrote a book detailing how they met, how they fell in love, how they took drugs together, how he ended up in prison. And then something surprising happened. I found Joanna as interesting as Timothy Leary, perhaps even more so. It was a way to tell a story about the ’70s in a powerful and unexpected way. I’m excited to be working with Showtime and I can’t believe my good fortune.”
Morris is one of the most influential documentarians to ever grace the film industry. He’s probably best known for his docs “The Thin Blue Line” and “The Fog of War,” the latter of which won the Best Doc Oscar.
“A Film By Errol Morris” doesn’t yet have an official release date, but Showtime says the project will debut “later this year.”
You can watch the trailer for the doc below:
