Ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Schlongsville) seems to love all forms of cinematography.
But there were moments when Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton, asked for the cameras to be shut off.
In a new story in The Hollywood Reporter, a variety of filmmakers discuss what happens behind the scenes.
“Weiner” filmmaker Josh Kriegman said he got to know Weiner while working as his chief of staff in Congress. Beyond the perverted rep he has now, the former aide saw him as a “dynamic” and “interesting” person — a man he believes is far more complex than the media has made him out to be.
“After he resigned from Congress, that was when I started talking to him about making a film,” Kriegman told the pub. “Through the scandal, he really became a caricature, a one-dimensional punch line. What interested me and my co-director, Elyse Steinberg, was trying to see the reality beyond the headlines, to show some of the full person that I had gotten to know.
Kriegman said he wasn’t surprised how much access he was given because there was already a lot of trust among him, Weiner and Abedin. They called the shots. He turned the cameras off whenever they wanted.
“I really trusted Anthony and [his now-estranged wife] Huma to set the boundaries, which they did throughout. There are a couple of moments in the movie where they do tell me to turn off the camera and leave the room, and that was the understanding [we had]. I would respect those boundaries whenever they wanted.”
As of late, Weiner has been spotted riding a horse in the woods at a Tennessee rehab ranch that has an extensive Men’s Sexual Addiction Program. But the matter is serious. The FBI is investigating his involvement and sexting with a 15-year-old girl.
Weiner and Abedin have been described as “estranged” and “separated.”