Frank Sinatra documentary coming to HBO

HBO is backing a new four-hour documentary on Frank Sinatra being touted as “the definitive portrait of our era’s greatest performer.” The miniseries will be directed by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney.

The untitled film is a collaboration between the newly formed Alcon Television Group and Frank Sinatra Enterprises, with Sinatra’s daughter Nancy credited as one of the executive producers along with Oscar-winner Frank Marshall, Alcon Television President Sharon Hall and Alcon co-founders and co-CEO Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

“We were overwhelmed by the scope and depth of this incredible story,” Hall said in a statement, “not to mention the opportunity to work with Alex and to partner with Kennedy-Marshall and Frank Sinatra Enterprises, on what is surely to be the definitive portrait of our era’s greatest performer.”

The documentary is aiming to span the many facets of Sinatra’s life and career as a singer, actor, radio and television personality, producer, director and conductor. No premiere date has been set.

Gibney won his Academy Award in 2007 for the documentary “Taxi to the Dark Side,” a look at the U.S. use of torture in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and Iraq. He’s also directed biographical documentaries on bicyclist Lance Armstrong and Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, and currently is at work on “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks” and a film about African musician Fela Kuti.

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