Netflix has added Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem, a new documentary showing the rise and fall of top Canadian politician Rob Ford.
Ford was, as Netflix puts it, "the brash yet beloved mayor of Toronto — until an infamous video of him smoking crack sparked his downfall".
The trailer provides a genuine insight into what to expect, including an interview with the journalist who broke the story. And, not surprisingly, she explains she was rather wary when she got a call on April Fool’s Day saying Ford was on a video smoking crack.
Holy s**t!
She says: "I remember getting a call from this guy who said he had a video of Ford smoking crack. It was April Fool's Day, which is never the day you wanna get a call like that. But yeah, I mean, I just… I handled it as professionally as I could and said, 'Okay, well, tell me more. Can I see it? Can we meet?'
"So we met at a parking lot. This guy pulled up and said, 'You know, leave your bags and your phones etc, in your car and get in this car'. And then drove us to a different location. Another individual got in the car.
"They seemed very nervous. I remember that they wouldn’t let us hold the phone. They were holding the phone, kind of showing it to us. But when the screen turned on, it was just so obvious that it was Rob Ford smoking out of a glass pipe. Holy s**t! And then they wanted to sell it to us for $100,000 dollars. But Canadian media does not pay for news.”
When news of the video broke, Rob Ford initially denied the allegations, branding them "ridiculous," but eventually he admitted to smoking crack.
"Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine," he said outside his mayoral office in late 2013. "There have been times when I've been in a drunken stupor."
More allegations about Rob Ford surfaced, including reports that he had knocked over a city councilor. Amazingly, given all the scandals, Ford prepared to run for mayor again and may well have won, but pulled out of the race in September 2014 after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He died at the age of 46 in March 2016.
Rob Ford had a lot of supporters, and Trainwreck filmmaker Shianne Brown told The Canadian Press that she wanted to represent all aspects of his story.
“I wanted to really tap into the human being that is Rob Ford, not the political headline that is Rob Ford.
"There is a side of this story where you just go full force into the scandal, but that didn’t feel like it did the story justice or did Rob Ford and his many supporters and his friends and family justice."
Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem is on Netflix now. See our best shows on Netflix guide for more recommendations.
