Interview: Director Chris Bolan and Executive Producer Kelli O'Hara Talk Renée Elise Goldsberry Documentary SATISFIED

In 2016, Renée Elise Goldsberry won a Tony Award for her performance as Angelica Schuyler in Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. Throughout her run in that groundbreaking production, Goldsberry filmed candid vlogs showcasing the difficult balance between the high expectations of Hamilton and navigating motherhood.

8 years later, a new documentary has premiered at the Tribeca Festival which highlights her experience in that show alongside her other joy in life: her family. Satisfied, directed by Chris Bolan and Melissa Haizlip, has utilized the vlogs to tell her story which also features new footage and interviews from Goldsberry, Miranda, and her family.

BroadwayWorld sat down with Bolan and executive producer, Tony Award-winning performer, and mother Kelli O'Hara to discuss this sincere film and the importance of Renée's story.

This interview has been condensed for clarity and length.

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How did this documentary begin development?

Chris: It started in Covid lockdown in 2020 when my son's mother was teaching a tap class on our front lawn. She was a Broadway performer herself and Kelli [O'Hara] brought over her daughter for a class. Renée had just moved to the area and brought her daughter over as well. Hamilton was just about to drop on Disney+ and Renée was telling Kelli that she had all this behind-the-scenes footage and that she wished she had done more with it. She was just going to dump it all on Instagram and Kelli was like, 'Whoa, wait a second.'

Before meeting Renée, Kelli and I had been talking about developing some kind of project that focused on Broadway mothers. I was on Broadway and so I know that experience as a father and Kelli had, of course, had experience with this as well. Those types of stories were not being told. When Renée mentioned this, Kelli said 'You should do more with that.' Renée expressed her wish that she had done a documentary or knew a documentary filmmaker and Kelli went 'Well, you just happened to be sitting at the house of somebody who makes documentaries.' 

Kelli told me what they had been talking about, and I thought it sounded very interesting. I was willing to help out in whatever capacity they needed, but I didn't know what we had and neither did Reneé. We went through a series of Zoom interviews- probably eight hours of just talking. We came out the other end, and Renée finally just said to me, bluntly, 'Do you want to direct this or not?' I said that I would love to. Kelli, Renée, and I then started the process of finding a production company, finding co-director Melissa Haizlip, all of it. 

So it was the three of you from the beginning.

Chris: It was. I wanted to make sure all the different voices were part of this film. I have the voice of having been a theater performer and a father and my son's mother was on Broadway. But I'm also a white cisgender male and I wanted the female perspective. I wanted the black female perspective. I wanted as many voices to make sure that we were telling Renée's story in the most honest and truthful way possible. 

Kelli, I'd love to hear what it looked like collaborating with the other producers on the movie.

Kelli: My main point of entry has always been Chris. When we first started talking about this, we began to have meetings with different producers to choose from and, of course, it was ultimately up to Chris and to Renée who she wanted to work with in making this film. I remember when Stick Figure was in the conversation and it was some of their previous work that really moved Renée. As Chris started to build the film, he would send me cuts of it or different cuts of interviews for me to take a look at. My involvement was more about my interaction with Chris and then he would take my thoughts back to the production companies. Chris has been a real go-between and has had to field a lot of opinions and emotions. My hat is off to Chris Bolan.

One thing that struck me was how personal of a story this is and how much trust there had to be between everybody on the team. How do you build trust with so many people involved?

Chris: Renée really trusted Kelli. She and I have known each other for years and we have that trust. With both Kelli and Renée being moms, I think Renée felt very secure in the core team that was developed here. Because you do get a lot of cooks in the kitchen and it can get dicey. Throughout the process, Kelli was a touchstone for me and for Renée.  When things got a little scary, it, Renée of course would come to me, but Kelli had a perspective that I just didn't have as a mother, as a Broadway star. I think between the two of us, we were able to make Renée feel comfortable.

Kelli: I think it takes a village with these things. I do know, and I feel good about this, the reality of that first conversation with Renée wanting to do it and putting the parts together to do the work. If Renée had emotions or feelings about what she thought should be in the film, she would call me. And then I'd call Chris. I was happy to be in that position because you need somebody on the team who is like-minded and can understand those particular things. I was proud to be a part of it so that I could say, 'Hey, I know for sure as a mom this would never happen' or 'This would absolutely happen.' I wanted there to be someone on the team who had lived the experience as closely as possible.

One thing I appreciated about the movie was that it was Renée leading and telling the story through her narration and the interviews. There were some other talking heads, but they were used sparingly. I'm curious about that decision.

Chris: That was very intentional. With a background in acting, I love observing. The trap with this film is that we could have had every shiny, fancy celebrity talking head on the planet. I told Renée at the beginning that if this was going to be a vanity project or a biography, that's great, but I'm not the guy to do it. I really wanted the honesty and authenticity. I wanted to see her without makeup and the grind of being a mom. To her credit, that's what she wanted to tell and that's what Kelli was interested in also. People want to put in all the fancy famous people that they can, and I really pushed back against that. I wanted it to be character-driven and it's not often that you get to focus on one character, which I think is a gift in a film. 

To the credit of the Mirandas too, Lin was very conscious of that. He felt Renée's story deserved to be Renée's story, not overshadowed by Hamilton. He wanted to ensure that we also weren't loading it up with Lin-Manuel Miranda, which I loved. I completely agreed with him, and it showed his level of care and trust with Renée and how protective they were with her.

The movie deals a lot with that balance of professional and personal life. We see Renée's support system in her husband and family. Kelli, as someone who has also had an amazing career as a performer and is also a mother, what kind of support have you found most helpful in your own career?

Kelli: It was really important for me to get Alexis [Johnson] in there talking about the husband's story. The truth of it is, we're going through a time right now where there is the question of whether or not a woman should be able to work and have a passion, and also be a good mom. In history, one of the reasons that's worked in the opposite direction is because there has been a parent home helping. I thought it was a great part of our story to include the fact that Renée has a partner in Alexis. I have a partner in Greg Naughton who has his own passions but also celebrates me going out there and following my passion. He knows that it makes me a fulfilled person who comes home to love my children and love my family.

We share in the duties as much as we can. He takes some, I take the others. I think in my life, without that partnership, I would never be able to do both at the same time. I really love that that I have a husband who's not threatened by my career, but celebrates it and gets excited about it and then reminds me of the priorities at once in a while.

You also need a team around you that respects your boundaries and your priorities. I've built that around myself. I have this manager who knows how important my children are, but she also knows the kind of work I want to do. There are sacrifices to be made in both directions, and I always want the sacrifices to be less on my family. Some of this story with Renée really shows that. But then something like Hamilton comes along and you say to your family and your agents, 'How can we make both work?' 

I wonder if there's a world in the future in which Renée Elise Goldsberry gets pregnant and doesn't give up Hamilton. She does a show with growing dresses, has the baby, and then she comes back and finishes. I wonder if there's a world in which we can suspend our imaginations. I did it with Far from Heaven, which I know was a crazy thing. I did the show until I was eight months pregnant. It's too bad when I look around at all my girlfriends who gave up their careers because of the way the business works.  I want to think that anything's possible as long as we have the right kind of people believing in it.

One thing that struck me about Renée and her story is just her resilience. If you had to sum up what makes her so incredible in one word, what would that word be?

Chris: A fighter. She doesn't give up. She fights for her career, fights for her children and family, fights for her friends, and fights for what she believes in. There are a million words that I could also call her. She's so grounded, considering her career. Oftentimes you can do these celebrity projects and it's an absolute nightmare. The fact that we are able to walk away as friends after four years in the trenches together really says something about her, and the type of person she is. She's a lovely, lovely human being, and I'm so grateful and honored that she entrusted us to tell her story.

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Satisfied recently made its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival. The film is currently searching for a distributor.