Evan Rachel Wood will discuss her experience as a survivor of domestic violence, allegedly at the hands of Marilyn Manson, in a new documentary, Phoenix Rising, set to premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
The documentary, directed by Amy Berg, is split into two parts, and just part one will screen at Sundance. Per a description, Phoenix Rising will find Wood reclaiming her story “in a culture that instinctively blames women,” and will follow her “as she moves toward naming her famous abuser for the first time.” The film appears to take its title, Phoenix Rising, from the Phoenix Act, a piece of legislation Wood helped create that became California law in 2019 and extends the statute of limitations on domestic violence from three to five years.
The Phoenix Rising premiere is scheduled for Jan. 23, with a second screening slated for Jan. 25. The 2022 Sundance Film Festival is taking place online this year because of the pandemic, and ticket packages are currently on sale; single film ticket sales will begin Thursday, Jan. 13 at 12 p.m. ET/10 a.m. MT.
While Wood had previously spoken about being a domestic abuse survivor, it wasn’t until last February that she publicly accused Manson (real name Brian Warner) for the first time. Wood and Warner began dating in 2007 when she was 19 and he was 38, and they broke up three years later.
“He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years,” Wood wrote on Instagram at the time. “I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.”
As reported in an extensive Rolling Stone exposé, Warner has since been accused of sexual misconduct and abuse by numerous women, including model Ashley Morgan Smithline and actress Esmé Bianco (he is also facing several lawsuits, and has denied all the allegations against him). Not long after Rolling Stone’s story ran, L.A. County Sheriff’s investigators raided Warner’s home, searching for belongings in connection to sexual assault allegations made against him between 2009 and 2011.
From Rolling Stone US
