“They didn’t exactly greet us with open arms,” added Kopf.Īs an example, the filmmakers said representatives of the Opry took 18 months to approve their requests to use Opry-related footage in the movie. “When we began trying to book interviews and do research it turned out to be really hard.” “Going in, we didn’t know what the town’s reaction would be to us filming the story there,” said Birleffi. (Last week, country music superstar Carrie Underwood voiced support for marriage equality in the British newspaper the Independent, though Wright was not mentioned in the article).īirleffi and Kopf said they encountered resistance when they tried to film in Nashville. “On a human level,” said Wright, “I wonder why they can’t see the value that I told my biggest secret - particularly when you think it might get you excommunicated from your house of worship, your social circles and your industry.” In addition, since she came out, hardly any of Wright’s country music contemporaries have publicly supported her. Wright’s last album, “Lifted Off the Ground,” released in 2010 in sync with her revelatory media blitz, was greeted by mixed reviews, virtually no airplay on mainstream country radio and weak business. Perhaps most notably, Nashville’s famed Grand Ole Opry, where Wright performed more than 100 times, has yet to ask her back. “They just got really silent on me,” remarked Wright.Īccording to Wright, her record sales fell to around one-third of their previous level, invitations to major country music events dried up, and she has received hate mail and threatening letters. “We were very clear from the beginning that you weren’t going to feel our hand in it trying to control or manipulate the story in any way,” said Kopf.Īnd what a story it was, with one of its most pivotal strands demanding a close-up on Nashville, where Wright was once a hugely popular fixture and where she lived for 19 years until moving to New York in 2008.īut ever since she unveiled her true self in May 2010 with a one-two punch in People magazine and on the “Today” show, the singer-songwriter says she has been largely rejected by the tight-knit country music capital - and the country music machine in general. I knew that it would be counterproductive to making a good documentary film, which is supposed to be objective.”Īlthough the subject matter was close to the filmmakers’ hearts, they, like Wright, had to adjust to the situation’s uncertainty and let events develop organically. “I knew that if I had one iota of control it would consume me. “I had zero creative input,” Wright, 41, said recently by phone from Manhattan.

Like Me by Chely Wright