DEADLINE
Stormy Daniels skipped the red carpet Friday but took the stage briefly after a screening of documentary Stormy, which had its SXSW premiere on the festival’s opening night. She was emotional, often wiping away tears, as she embraced director Sarah Gibson and talked about how important the film is to her. But she displayed her trademark defiance too, closing with a parting shot — “And f*ck Trump.”
“Thank you Sarah for doing this with me and telling such a great story,” she said. “As a filmmaker, your transitions were amazing. And you didn’t use too many shots that made me look fat. So thank you.”
Judd Apatow is an executive producer for the film, which premieres on Peacock later this month.
“I met Judd, I think it was 2004. And not very many people know this story, but I stood in line and auditioned for a bit part in a movie called The 40-Year Old Virgin.” She got the role but had death in the family so didn’t get to to set. “I expected them to replace me, and instead of doing so Judd Apatow rearranged his entire shoot schedule and sent flowers” to the funeral.
Apatow, who did speak briefly before the screening, said it’s important to realize that there are “real people” behind the clickbait.
The doc follows the former adult film star whose life was upended after becoming entangled with Donald Trump. She said — as did Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen — that he paid her $130,000 to stay quiet about an affair. Since the payout came in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, some called it election fraud. The Manhattan District Attorney is currently preparing for trial in its hush money case against Trump.
Back when existence of the payments were revealed, Trump called Daniels a liar. She sued him for defamation and lost, ending up on the hook for $300,000 to cover his legal expenses. The lawyer who took up her case initially and defended her up and down cable news, Michael Avenatti, was convicted of defrauding her and in 2022 was sentenced to four years in prison for wire fraud and identity theft after stealing book-contract proceeds from Daniels by forging her signature on a letter to her agent.
Stormy is her story with new details. It is produced by Erin Lee Carr, with Sara Bernstein executive producer.
