“Little Richard: I Am Everything,” tells the honest story of rock and roll icon Richard Penniman, known to the world as Little Richard. The singer was the pioneer of such rock classics as Tutti Frutti, Lucille, Good Golly Miss Molly and more.
Richard’s style and music was so good he paved the way for all artists from all decades, including Bruno Mars, Prince, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, and Elton John. The roster of artists he closely influenced includes The Beatles, who he took with him to Germany in the super group’s early club days.
The movie is a remarkable journey, that captures the spirit of Richard himself. Director Lisa Cortes talks to Billy Porter, Paul McCartney, members of Richard’s inner circle, and director John Waters.
“Tracing Richard Wayne Penniman’s path from 1930s Macon, Georgia through underground
Black drag clubs to segregated concert halls and international fame, the film rejects
simplification, giving Little Richard his due both as a revolutionary and as a deeply conflicted
artist navigating tensions of race and sexuality more heated today than during his rise,” Cortes said of Richard.
Directed by Lisa Cortés
Produced by Robert Friedman, Lisa Cortés, Liz Yale Marsh and Caryn Capotosto
Executive Produced by Dee Rees, Mike Powers, Anita May Rosentstein, Gus Wenner, Jason Fine, Amy Entelis, Courtney Sexton
Featuring Mick Jagger, Billy Porter, John Waters, Tom Jones, and more
Produced by Bungalow Media + Entertainment for CNN Films and HBO Max, in association with Rolling Stone Films, director Lisa Cortés’ Sundance opening night documentary LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archive and performance that brings us into Richard’s complicated inner world, the film unspools the icon’s life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions. In interviews with family, musicians, and cutting-edge Black and queer scholars, the film reveals how Richard created an art form for ultimate self-expression, yet what he gave to the world he was never able to give to himself. Throughout his life, Richard careened like a shiny cracked pinball between God, sex and rock n’ roll. The world tried to put him in a box, but Richard was an omni being who contained multitudes – he was unabashedly everything. Directed by Lisa Cortés, LITTLE RICHARD: I AM EVERYTHING is produced by Robert Friedman, Cortés, Liz Yale Marsh and Caryn Capotosto and Executive Produced by Dee Rees.
Little Richard: I Am Everything is set for digital release on April 21st.
