A much-anticipated "mostly finished" documentary about former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last night, though Spitzer himself was absent. Director Alex Gibney, whose Taxi to the Dark Side won the 2007 documentary Oscar, interviewed Spitzer four times over the two years he spent making the film. He made the film in tandem with author Peter Elkind, whose book Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer was recently released; the Washington Post reviews it here.
Ashley Dupre, the former call girl involved in the scandal, was not interviewed. Gibney told the audience she asked for editorial control, which he refused. Dupre said in an email that she didn't want to grant an interview without "approval over the edit. I think everyone is trying to move on with their lives and by me participating in their project would only open old wounds," she said. Gibney said he also discovered the identity of another prostitute, "Angelina," whom Spitzer frequently visited. Silda Wall Spitzer didn't grant an interview.
(More Eliot Spitzer stories.)