As Donald Trump charges through a sea of criminal indictments towards yet another presidential nomination, Stormy – Sarah Gibson’s documentary about controversial figure Stormy Daniels – lands at SXSW just in time to remind us of one of the more notorious chapters of his 2016 campaign. Vilified by Trump’s supporters as an opportunist and a liar, the (self-proclaimed) Republican porn star was simultaneously embraced by many of his opponents as an unlikely liberal hero. Largely assembled from media coverage and previously unused documentary footage, this film seeks to look beyond the symbols and the flashy headlines to craft a more intimate and realistic portrait, and offers up a fascinating look at public reaction to the star in the first years of the Trump presidency.
By now the story is well known. In the wake of his first presidential nomination, Daniels was paid off to keep quiet about a decade old sexual encounter with then reality star Trump. The story may have remained but a tiny footnote in the president’s history, if not for the allegation that the payoff (made by Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen) was illegally reimbursed with campaign funds. When the story broke, Daniels insisted on taking control of the narrative, and thrust herself into the eye of the storm. The public couldn’t get enough. 22 million people tuned in to hear her side of the story on 60 Minutes, more viewers than the show had pulled in for over a decade.
While this was undeniably a difficult time for Daniels and her family, who faced daily death threats and harassment in the press and on social media, the performer seemed to make every effort to capitalize on the situation. In addition to television appearances on everything from The View to Jimmy Kimmel, she embarked on a cross-country exotic dance tour called Make America Horny Again. In a truly surreal turn of events, we watch as her audience morphs from white men looking for a thrill to tearful women and gay couples, adopting the registered Republican as a reluctant feminist icon. We also watch as many of those new supporters run for the hills once she loses her defamation suit against President Trump.
Daniels is clearly quite savvy, and a born performer. I was struck throughout the film at how ambitious and strategic she has been throughout her career, always with her eye on the prize. She’s tough, but there are many moments in the film, especially as her marriage begins to unravel and her connection to her daughter is threatened, that we witness her bravado really begin to crack, and see the vulnerability beneath the performance. At one point, Daniels’ ex-husband, who filed for divorce at the height of the debacle, wonders about her motivation for taking this all on in such a brazenly public manner. I have to admit I wondered the same. Despite consistently worrying over the threats to her family, she spends the bulk of two years on the road, courting attention from the media. While clearly distressed at times, sometimes she seems to be loving her newfound notoriety, calling out her appearance on SNL as the best day of her life.
Sadly, by now bled dry by lawsuits and the structural misogyny of the legal system, even Daniels herself struggles to understand what it’s all been for. In a cruel twist of fate, far from profiting from this saga, Daniels owes Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for her failed defamation suit against him. Despite all her intelligence and her toughness, Daniels has been victimized by the justice system over and over again. Even her limelight chasing lawyer Michael Ayenatti ended up being convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands the star should have pocketed from a lucrative book deal. Stormy offers little in the way of happy endings or just desserts, but its greatest strength is in its resistance to neatly categorize its subject. Daniels is rendered in all her vivid complexity and contradiction. Make of her what you will… most people do.
Stormy premieres in the Documentary Spotlight section of the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival in advance of its streaming debut on Peacock March 18th.
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