Docuseries asks whether Ghislaine Maxwell was Epstein's victim or shadow

Mumbai, July 9

Documentary filmmaker Mike Lerner shares the reason behind working on the three-part docuseries 'Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?' based on the life of Ghislaine Maxwell, famous former British socialite and daughter of one of the biggest media tycoons, Robert Maxwell.

It showcases Ghislaine Maxwell being sentenced to 20 years for aiding late American financier Jeffrey Epstein in sex trafficking and also unmasks turn of events in her life.

Mike, who is the executive producer of the crime documentary reveals: "About two years ago myself and Dorothy Byrne, the other executive producer on this series, were discussing the upcoming Ghislaine Maxwell case and the fact that all the reportage about her to date, be it television or press, really focused on her as Epstein's victim or in the shadow of Epstein.

"Nobody was really defining her in her own right and looking at her biography and her character as, obviously, a matter of incredible public interest."

While talking about the reporting on Ghislaine Maxwell, Mike shares: "There's been a lot of lazy and inadequate reporting about who this woman actually was, so we decided we would try and give a really full and detailed biography of who Ghislaine Maxwell is."

"I think we achieved that, and I think we got an astonishing level of depth in our contributors and people who knew her from various moments in her life and knew her well, some of whom still can't quite believe how she's ended up," adds Mike, who was nominated for an Academy Award for the film 'Hell and Back Again' in 2012.

"Others really saw signs of her potential deviance at an early age. I think we achieved a level of thoroughness and detail that had not to this point been achieved," he concludes.

Directed by BAFTA-nominated documentary director and producer Erica Gornall and produced by award-winning producer-director and investigative journalist Katherine Haywood, the three-episode series is streaming on Lionsgate Play.