Natalie Wood docu has rare photos, Robert Wagner interview

Natalie Wood is the subject of a new HBO documentary overseen by her daughter Natasha Gregson-Wagner.

The film, which will be released on May 5, is titled Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind and promises to be packed with not just several never-seen-before images and clips (like footage from the actress’ second wedding to Robert Wagner) but also interviews from Wagner, Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. 

Wagner, who was married to Wood twice, spoke for the first time on camera about Natalie’s death in 1981 at the age of 43. ‘I don’t think there’s a day that has ever gone by that I don’t think about Natalie,’ Wagner says in the clip.  

Wood and Wagner were married in 1972 and stayed together for four years before divorcing.

They went on to each marry other people and have more children before eventually reconciling then marrying again in 1972.

There is a collection of personal photographs and home movies of Natalie, some of which Gregson Wagner discovered in her family’s storage unit. 

Never-before seen footage of Wood’s second wedding to Wagner was discovered.

There is also a never-published article for Ladies Home Journal that Wood wrote in 1966. She addresses her thoughts on fame, affairs of the heart and family.

‘The day my mom died, my entire world was shattered,’ Wood’s daughter Natasha says in the trailer. 

She was only 11 when her mother was found dead on the shores of Catalina Island in California in 1981. 

There have been conspiracy theories ever since about how she died, but the film does not dig into that as her daughter wanted to focus more on her mom’s life rather than her death.

‘Since then there’s been so much focus on how she died that it’s overshadowed who she was as a person,’ added Natasha.

This film weaves excerpts from Wood’s filmography with archival material, including extensive family photos, diaries, never-before-seen home movies and audio recordings. 

Born to Russian immigrant parents in San Francisco, Wood was barely five years old when she appeared in her first films, Tomorrow Is Forever and Miracle On 34th Street.

She went on to receive three Academy Award nominations for the movies Rebel Without A Cause, Splendor In The Grass and Love With The Proper Stranger.

Her most popular film is 1961’s West Side Story in which she played Maria; a remake is in the works. 

Robert Redford spoke about Natalie in the new docu as she was the one who got him his break in the 1965 movie Inside Daisy Clover.

George Hamilton talked about how professional she was, Mia Farrow touched on her role as a mother.

The movie, which had its World Premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, is directed by Laurent Bouzereau and produced by Gregson Wagner.  

Wood’s sister, Lana, did not want to participate in the film, telling Bouzereau to let Natasha know, ‘I completely understand she also wishes to keep her pain and her family’s at a minimum.’

Lana was involved , however, with the  12-part podcast Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood, which looked at Natalie’s death.

‘I am not making judgments,’ she told the New York Times. 

‘I am not supposing. I’m not doing any of those things. I’m simply looking at facts. Natalie didn’t swim. Her fear of dark water was deeply ingrained.’