*Lil Nas X is the subject of a new HBO documentary that unpacks his rise to fame.
Directed by filmmakers Zac Manuel and Carlos López Estrada, Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero is set against the backdrop of the pop star’s first headlining 60-city tour.
“I think we always knew that we wanted it to be something personal and something very diaristic,” Manuel told Blavity’s Shadow and Act in a recent interview.
“We didn’t want it to be this kind of retrospective or this kind of full-scope picture of his complete rise and telling that whole part of the story,” he added. “We wanted to engage it and we wanted to talk about how far he had come in just a relatively short amount of time, but we did want this story to be really relegated to this period of 60 days and look at how does an artist transform over two months while embarking on their first-ever tour and doing something that they had never done before, and what are the anxieties that are kind of implicit within that? What are they excited about? How are they finding joy? How are they changing as a person? And so those were kind of the things that we were looking at when we started filming.”
Manuel said he first became intrigued with Lil Nas X after hearing his hit song “Old Town Road” when it came out in 2019.
“I’m from the South; I’m from New Orleans, and he’s a Black artist from the South. He’s queer. He’s kind of disrupting notions of masculinity. So I was really interested in what he was doing musically and artistically. And I liked the music videos that he was putting out. I liked his artistry. I liked his kind of aesthetic, absurdity and salaciousness — all of those things I think were really fun,” he said.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Spanning 60 days of the “Long Live Montero” tour in 2022/2023, the verité-style film delves beneath the surface of Lil Nas X, a boy from Atlanta born Montero Hill, whose musical career exploded with his 2019 crossover hit “Old Town Road.” Mirroring the stage show, the film is divided into three acts—Rebirth, Transformation, and Becoming—and chronicles Montero’s own odyssey as he navigates the pressures of his meteoric rise to stardom, his desire to inspire his fans and accept the naysayers, and his place within the pantheon of Black, queer icons.
Capturing this provocative performer at a transformational point in his life, Montero’s elaborate stage show transports the audience through the highs and lows of his life via his deeply personal music, while behind the scenes, the film reveals a sensitive young man still exploring his own queer identity, complicated relationships with family members, and his aspirations as a force for self-expression and acceptance. Vulnerable and raw off stage, dazzling and spectacular on stage, LIL NAS X: LONG LIVE MONTERO is a testament to an artist who continues to push boundaries, transcend genres, and reshape expectations on his quest to become the truest and greatest version of himself.
“Lil Nas X is an artist who takes his visuals very seriously whether it’s videos or portraits, so we knew the movie needed to have that same approach,” Estrada told The Huffington Post. “It needed to feel very stylish and alive, and Zac and I wanted to bring our creative influences to it.”
Lil Nas X released a new original song, “Where Do We Go Now? (Music from Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero)”, to accompany the documentary – listen HERE.
The documentary is now streaming on MAX.
READ MORE: Lil Nas X Apologizes for Mocking Jesus in New Music Video: ‘I Messed Up’
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