"The Greatest Night in Pop" with Bao Nguyen

Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

“Check Your Ego at the Door”. Those words were scrawled on a piece of paper and taped to the door of A&M Studios on the night of January 28, 1985. The story behind that command is the subject of director Bao Nguyen’s (“Be Water”) thoroughly captivating new Netflix documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop” about the once-in-a-lifetime event that drew dozens of the world’s biggest pop stars together on one night to record what would become the ‘80s phenomenon “We Are the World”.

Bao joins Ken on the pod to describe everything that went into the making of “We Are the World” and how he went about telling the story using a highly creative and seamless blend of archival footage, interviews and recreations. What prompted singer Harry Belafonte’s dream to galvanize the pop community to raise funds to combat the Ethiopian famine and led to this one magical, high stakes evening? How did the legendary producer Quincy Jones (who posted the note) manage to bring out the best in everyone and keep the trains running on time? And how did Bao approach his portrayal of the complicated and flawed superstar Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the song with Lionel Ritchie?

It turns out that “The Greatest Night in Pop” makes for a great night in documentary viewing, too. ““The Greatest Night in Pop” is available now on Netflix.

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