Judd Apatow is producing a documentary about Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E.
The pair have worked together before, when E acted in Apatow’s 2016 TV series Love, and now the filmmaker is putting together about the musician’s fascinating life.
Titled The Way I Was Made: The Story Of A Man Called E, the film is directed by Gus Black, who has also made music videos for Eels.
The official synopsis reads: “The Way I Was Made is an intimate and emotionally powerful portrait of an artist’s unwavering pursuit of creative integrity in the face of profound personal tragedy. As a teenager, Everett discovered his brilliant but troubled father dead. Years later, just as his dreams of becoming a musician began to take shape, he lost both his sister and his mother in devastating succession.
“Confronted with unimaginable grief, Everett chose not the pursuit of fame, but a deeply personal artistic path — transforming loss into one of the most heart-achingly beautiful and critically acclaimed catalogues in modern music.”
Apatow said in a statement (via Stereogum): “I’ve always thought E’s story would make for a fantastic documentary. I am confused by why it has taken this long.”
E’s 2007 autobiography, Things The Grandchildren Should Know, received critical acclaim for its unique narrative framing, where the author takes on the persona of an elderly man sharing wisdom he has learned before he dies. The Who legend Pete Townshend described it as “One of the best books ever written by a contemporary artist.”
In 2019, the singer spoke to NME and discussed the time he was mistaken for a terrorist in Hyde Park while taking a break from a press junket. “Some lady called the police and reported a suspicious-looking character she thought was a terrorist and said I was peering into the embassies and looking over the walls to the hotel I was staying in” he recalled.
“A bunch of police with guns arrived – which was startling to see at the time in London. I was genuinely scared and thought I was going to go to jail and lose my freedom…They let me go but they had me on a watchlist.”
He also revealed the most unusual offer Eels have ever been made. “There was an offer for half a million dollars to use one of our songs in a commercial for antidepressants in America,” he said. “I couldn’t do it because the joke would have been: ‘Yeah, you’ll need them when you listen to the new Eels album!’
He also talked to NME about wanting to “bury the hatchet” with Colin Firth after the actor’s comments about the band in the film Love Actually.
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