Q&A: Filmmaker Erik Angra Talks State Of Chyna Documentary (Part 2)

Documentary filmmaker Erik Angra spoke with Wrestledelphia’s Mark Whited about the future of “The Reconstruction of Chyna” documentary. In part one of their Q&A, Angra talked about where his team is at with the film and what voices he hopes to add.

Among those voices are Triple H and The Rock. Angra recently reached out to the two on Twitter:

we need you for Please connect with me. Please help me tell this story. No agendas.

— Erik Angra (@AngraFilm)

In part two, Angra talks about the misconceptions involving Chyna’s death, how it affected both him and his team, and what fans might expect from the upcoming film.

Angra’s work has appeared on the Discovery Channel, HBO, PBS, VICE, BBC, and more. He is an award-winning director, cinematographer, and film editor. In 2014, Angra won an Emmy for Outstanding Editing in a Non-Fiction Program (“The Folklorist”).

Visit his website, erikangra.com, and follow him on Twitter for updates on the upcoming film.

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Mark Whited: Has there been any misconceptions about Chyna and her passing that you’ve noticed?

Eric Angra: “I think there’s a couple of things. When she was in Tokyo, she was doing pretty well for herself, but she was also having some tough times there. When she came here, the goal was to get her help and she was getting it. She had therapy. She was going to groups. She was doing her exercises and she was very much on point.

[Chyna’s death] came as a shock. We knew she was having some troubles in the past, like I mentioned, but this came as a big shock. There are conceptions that, ‘We shouldn’t have flown her out here’ or, ‘The documentary stressed her out’ or, ‘The WWE was at fault’ and that she was drinking heavily.

First of all, she wasn’t drinking heavily at all. When I saw her drink, she was drinking like a normal person, and I don’t know what she was on in terms of her prescription medications, but she was taking them, more or less, as prescribed as far as I know. Everything else is just an assumption.

I think people are too quick to judge. Until we get the autopsy report, we don’t even know what happened. I’m very interested to see what comes out with this brain scan, because it’s very possible that she had some issues that came from her concussions.

MW: How are you and the team holding up in the midst of this?

EA: “It was just a huge shock. I had just spoken to her the Sunday prior, and when this happens, you start to wonder, ‘Could I have done more?’ We were talking with her as much as we could; being a friend as much as we could. I feel very sad that this happened to her. She had so much more to give to the world. We’re taking it one step at a time. I suppose how people take it when someone close to them dies.”

MW: What do you want people to know about Chyna and this film?

EA: “The documentary isn’t just a biography on Chyna. It’s a real story about this woman and what she took on. Sadly, this all seems like a premonition. In the Kickstarter for the film, we talked about how we were going to look at the dark side of fame and being a celebrity and that was going to be shown through her experiences, and unfortunately, she is not here with us. It’s the darkest of what happens. The documentary will explore the truth about what it takes to become as famous as she was and the stresses those people have to take on. Especially as a woman.

It will look at if the fans, Hollywood, or anything contributed to her emotional stress. Hopefully, in the future, this might prevent people from judging so quickly. We live in a generation where everyone is so negative and quick to comment. This didn’t use to happen to celebrities and it is happening now. I just feel that they’re human beings too, and people forget that. I think people need to understand that this is all real and these things are happening to a real person, and that will all come out in the documentary.”