Apple TV+ News: Louis Armstrong Documentary Announced, First Look at Stephen King Series ‘Lisey’s Story’

Apple today announced it has green lit the Louis Armstrong documentary film “Black & Blues: The Colorful Ballad of Louis Armstrong” from Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries. The documentary, which will be produced under Apple’s first-look agreement with Imagine Documentaries, will be directed by Emmy-nominated Sacha Jenkins.

Apple says the film will offer a definitive look at the “master musician’s life and legacy as a founding father of jazz” who was “often mischaracterized for not doing enough to support the civil rights movement.” In reality, Apple says his “fight for social justice was fueled by his celebrity and his willingness to break his silence on issues of segregation and patriotism.”

With the full support of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, Apple says the filmmakers have access to “a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival materials, including hundreds of hours of audio recordings, film footage, photographs, personal diaries and a life’s worth of ephemera for exclusive use in the first significant documentary dedicated entirely to his life.” A release date has yet to be announced.

Imagine Documentaries was also behind last year’s Apple TV+ documentary film “Dads,” which explored modern fatherhood.

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair has a first look at Stephen King’s upcoming Apple TV+ series “Lisey’s Story” ahead of its June 4 debut. The show, based on his 2006 novel, stars Julianne Moore as the widow of a world-famous author (played by Clive Owen), who “discovered a passageway into a parallel dimension that helped him tap uncanny creative energies.”