Hold Up, How Have We Gone Without a Luther Vandross Doc?

“We’re filling in parts we didn’t know,” director Dawn Porter said.

We’re back at Sundance in the Vulture Spot, where we’re interviewing the casts and creators of the year’s buzziest films. Check out all our coverage from the film fest here.

It took until the year of our Lord 2024 to get a full-length dive into the life and career of every auntie’s quiet storm king, the force known as Luther Vandross. “It was pretty shocking to me that there was no feature film about him,” Luther: Never Too Much director Dawn Porter said. “He is the soundtrack to our lives.” When she signed on to the film, Vandross’s label, Sony, made available what she calls “documentary crack,” or the artist’s liner notes and sketches for his smooth tracks. “We know the songs are the soundtracks to our lives, but we don’t know how he got there,” she told Vulture. “We’re filling in the parts we didn’t know.” Wanna hear more about combing through Vandross’s old things? Watch the video above for details, along with stories about:

➼ David Bowie being self-aware enough to know he couldn’t pull off a Vandross track.
➼ Vandross dialing Dionne Warwick during booty-call hours to talk about … recipes.
➼ Jamie Foxx slyly playing Vandross music in the background of calls to seduce his girlfriends.

Luther: Never Too Much is directed by Porter and produced by Foxx, Trish D Chetty, Ged Doherty, Datari Turner, and Leah Smith. It premiered at Sundance on January 21.

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