Emmy-nominated directors Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok talk about the enduring legacy of the author and eponymous subject of their documentary.
Judy has always known how much her fans have gravitated toward her characters and her stories, but she’s realizing how much her own personal story has really moved people. She’s talked to us a little bit about what people say when they come into the bookstore [Books & Books in Key West, Florida] after they’ve seen the documentary, because she’s had fans come greet her at the bookstore for years. She opened the bookstore in 2016, but they were always coming in as fans of her stories.
Leah, since you weren’t as familiar with Judy Blume, what was your reaction to Davina’s idea to make a documentary about her?I had been supporting Davina from afar for the whole time that she had been reaching out to Judy and corresponding. They had this little long-distance love affair via email for a year and a half. Davina and I met in film school in 2003, and we support each other through all phases of the documentary filmmaking process.
Were you aware of the robustness of Judy’s fan correspondence before you started working on the film?Not before I started the research. She gave the archive to Yale, so there were some articles about it. There were dozens and dozens and dozens of boxes organized in many cases by theme — everything from divorce to “my annoying sibling” to grief and loss and eating disorders. Looking at those folder names, you could see how much depth and breadth was there.
What was it like to see the two letter writers who appear in the film, both now adults, read their old letters from adolescence?We had months of going back and forth with them before we ever brought them in to interview. We asked about specific passages that we would like them to read. We talked a lot about what it would be like for them to go back into that space. We worked with a therapist to make sure that we were being sensitive to the trauma that might come up in the interviews.
When you were in production, was book banning already the hot-button topic it’s become across America?It was simmering, but it hadn’t boiled up. Because of Judy’s experience, we were paying attention to it and looking at what kinds of books are being banned today. We were learning that most banned books are about queer and transgender characters, about Black and brown characters, and by authors with those identities.
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