The Salon of the Modest Suite of Hotel d’E. Carroll in Telluride is washed in mute mountain tones: beige carpet, pine lights and an old fireplace. Do not worry, the council columnist who lasted decades brings the color with her.
Carroll enters the room with its signature blonde bob and an orange shock combination, brandished in logos reserved for naval recruits. This is appropriate, because the magazine writer Vanted has been fighting with Donald Trump since 2019 – when she accused the president of sexual assault between 1995 and 1996 in New York.
She joined two other women in Trump’s accusation of this crime over the years, although two separate cases carried by Carroll (one for defamation, the other for sexual assault) were the only ones to judge in court. His journey through accusations and possible victory – totaling nearly $ 90 million in damages granted by a jury – are the subject of “Ask e Jean”, an official selection of the Film Film Teluride, directed by Ive Meeropol. Trump called on the two Carroll affairs and the process is still underway. Meeropol is the granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, positioning her only for having examined one of the architects of the rise of Trump – Roy Cohn – in his previous work.
Variety Sitting for a frank conversation with the director and the subject to discuss the film, which offers unprecedented access to the process behind the Carroll-Trump combat. The DOC includes images never previously seen from the painful deposition of Carroll led by Alina Habba, the lawyer for Trump who is now an American prosecutor and special assistant to the United States Attorney General. It also serves a fascinating story of Carroll’s inheritance as a journalist by Gonzo Pioneer, a syndicated television host (in a Greenlit program and led by Roger Ailes) and a guru of the advice whose management for women does not age as well as it was.
One of the most fascinating parts of this film is that you admit that you don’t like any of the advice you have given to women for decades. You told them to “suck and continue”.
E. Jean Carroll: Fifty percent of my answers were bad. I thought I knew everything at the time, especially on women in the workplace. If you want to move forward, use your look. And, of course, it’s good advice. But if a man calls you to honey and gives you a tape at the back? Just move. Do not make noise, or you will not get the promotion. Now – this advice is exactly false.
You say that professional adults today have no idea what it was for a woman in the workplace in the 90s.
EJC: If I had said: “Take hold and shout” per minute (any abuse occurred), there could have been a little revolution. My advice was false.
Ivy Meeropol: But if you look at something like the syndicated television show. Jean, she stimulated women. She said to them: “You don’t have to be married to be a full -fledged person.” “You should go to university.” “You should have passion in your life.” “You should work.” It is a complicated thing because it was talking about empowerment.
I saw some of these old clips. Do you think that women at the time awaited permission, to live a full life and not to be defined by men or a maternity?
EJC: This is a deep question. What were women waiting for? What are we waiting for now? What are men waiting for?
Some might say that there is a feeling of suspension in the current political climate. No one is as frank as during Trump’s first term. Does that seem true?
EJC: I hate saying this, but yes. We are waiting because we are afraid and anxious and worried, but we have a weapon – Ivy and all the documentary filmmakers. They show you how to intervene and speak. What if an 81 -year -old woman can beat Donald Trump? Twice? Anyone can. In the larger image. I think money is the answer. When (online powers will be struck in the pocket book by Trump, that will be it. This moment has not yet come.
There has been speculation that your documentary will find it difficult to find a buyer, given the fears that media companies have that Trump will run up. Look at what happened last year with “The Apprentice”. What do you think?
I AM: I have the impression that we are in a different place.
EJC: We fly (in terms of the buyer’s interest).
I AM: We thought of that – What if we were created in January during a festival that I will not name? We would have been lost in the demonstration of the inauguration (of Trump). No one was ready to think about it, it was a shock for even his supporters. But we are in a different place today because it has done so much damage at so many levels. People are looking for something to feel that there is a way to get out of madness.
A safe sign of authoritarianism is the repression of women and censorship and the abuse of power. The moment of this film is absolutely important. And people will get to know the whole story of E. Jeans. It was always my intention. I did not do this to focus only on the assault. I wanted to tell the whole story of E. John, which helps people understand how it could have happened – as opposed to the people who listen to him. Surprisingly, there are many progressives who do not really believe what happened.
Do you think it includes potential distributors for the film?
EJC: I am not at all worried. Remember, Ivy is the woman who studied Trump and what did it – and it was her film “Bully. COWARD. Victim. Roy Cohn’s story ”. (This film is) natural progression to finish Trump.
Many women in situations like yours, E. John, are subject to harassment and death threats – involving someone like Trump in particular. Is it still going on today?
EJC: I have a garbage mud that arrives everywhere, every minute. But it’s very good. If it’s the price, I’m ready to pay it. In addition, I don’t care if someone shoots me. You cannot be in documentary films or the arts and think that life will be easy. If you are an artist, you do what you need to do. Nothing stopped Ivy. Well, they tried to stop Ivy. Did you know that?
No, say more.
EJC: (My lawyer) Robbie Kaplan, the largest lawyer in the world, told Ivy to stop filming several times.
I AM: It was a time that I presented myself, without money, with my little iPhone in the pouring rain, just to obtain images of E. Jean and Robbie making a press on the steps of the courthouse. Basically, you cannot draw a documentary during a trial because the images can be used as proof.
EJC: Another important part of this film is the video of the e -e. Jean with Trump’s lawyer. No one has already seen these.
These were difficult to look at. How many hours have you been tabled?
EJC: Seven, for the first. Most people do not know that you have to go to a trial before proceeding. Yeah. It will be new and interesting for the public, to look at how it tortures you before going to trial. Alina Habba is a beautiful woman, effervescent and super intelligent. I did not know how to sit in the law. It was she who managed the depositions, but she was brutal. She practiced the case you had pleaded in the 1700s. (The Habba office did not immediately respond to VarietyComment calls).
Have you been accused of witchcraft?
EJC: Basically. Alina is the one who started wondering if I was screaming (during the assault) or not – again and again. Ivy grabbed even more brutal things than what happened during the trial. Women will be surprised (when they see the film).
I AM: I always felt that the trial took the previous one on any film I was making. I wanted to do things. I didn’t even know that video deposits could be signed towards me. It was an incredible amount of confidence that they gave me. But (this electricity period) helped me spend time interviewing E. Jean on his incredible life, his work and his adventures.
E. Jean, the film briefly mentions that your program unionized in the 90s was made with Roger Ailes. He never comes back again. What was your work experience with him, in the light of the end of the career?
EJC: He is a big diffuser. He was a big boss. He could manage a network … He was one of my best friends. I loved Roger. Katie Couric too. Knowing him personally, he was wonderful. We did not know that under everything that was a sump. It’s amazing. This film tries to alert the nation that is always happening, just in front of them.
Does the Trump administration are currently trying to intervene with this documentary or targets another way?
EJC: Not a glance. And it is with my bestseller from the New York Times (“not my type”) at the moment.
Why do you think it’s?
EJC: We have not heard of him because he is in front of a second circuit of the United States Court of Appeal. Yes, and he will have to pay me 100 million dollars if he does not behave (the combined regulations of two cases brought against Trump by Carroll allocated him nearly $ 89 million). And even if he behaves, he will have to pay me. He thinks he could win if he closes, yes, but there is no way. Too late. (The White House did not come back immediately Varietycomment request).
What is your relationship with writing right now? What are you working on?
EJC: Oh, horrible. I am at the horrible stage of not knowing what I want to do afterwards. I can write about Telluride!
In recent years has been an ordeal for you. Where do you find joy?
EJC: Joy? I grab this fucked each time it appears.
