However, navigating “a tyrannical, powerful, wealthy man” was something she learned earlier in life, executive producer and director Barbara Shearer said, due to the way her father, publishing’s Robert Maxwell, conducted himself.
Maxwell did not respond to the production team’s request for an interview, which they say upfront in the docuseries.
Work on the his docuseries unofficially began in 2016 when Shearer was researching Epstein and came to realize Maxwell was an interesting character.
… I still believe that she is a much more complex character, much more worthy of investigation into, from a documentary point of view,” Shearer said.
“Epstein’s Shadow” began production in September 2020, with the team working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, “even though we all do adhere to the code, I think that with a woman like this, and we are women, you come with questions and you come with an empathy and an inquisitiveness which then slightly directs where your eye might fall,” Cooper said.
“The final voice was given to Maria Farmer, who was a predominant fixture in Episode 2 and 3 because she was just so strong,” she continued.