More On:
kanye west
Is Van Jones perfect for Kim Kardashian?
Kim Kardashian wears skintight dress during girls’ night out amid divorce
Kanye West seen for first time since Kim Kardashian divorce filing
Kim Kardashian appears to hint at Kanye West divorce on Instagram
Two Hollywood streaming services are racing to create documentaries on Kanye West, Page Six has learned.
Both projects aim to center on the mercurial rapper’s relationship with his onetime bodyguard — former NYPD officer and Chippendales dancer Steve Stanulis — and are being pitched as a real-life “48 Hours.”
“Two studios approached me,” Stanulis said of the potential projects that want to start shooting as soon as next month. “They see this as a ’48 Hours’ for real, or a ‘Lethal Weapon’ for real,” he said, referring to the famous buddy movies of the ’80s. “It comes from my mouth, I worked with [West] two separate times.”
Stanulis worked with West in 2016, and was around for some of the star’s wild incidents, including a behind-the-scenes meltdown on the set of “Saturday Night Live,” plus events such as New York Fashion Week and the Met Gala. He has alleged that West once tipsily wandered into the wrong hotel room of an Italian dignitary at the Waldorf, nearly setting off a brawl.
“Every day was a new adventure,” Stanulis told us of working for the rapper and fashion plate. “There are a ton of stories I haven’t told.” He added that other of West’s guards who were former cops would participate with behind-the-scenes details, including one who lasted for “five minutes” working for the star.
The purported movie would just be the latest chapter in a more-than-tumultuous relationship between West and Stanulis. “I was one of his favorite guys,” Stanulis says of working for West — at first. However, the relationship soured and has led to over-the-top legal threats from both sides as recently as last year — when Stanulis dished about his time working for West on a podcast, calling him one of his “least favorite people” to work with thanks to West’s “ridiculous rules.”
In 2016, after Stanulis slammed West in an interview with a UK newspaper, West threatened him with a $30 million suit, claiming Stanulis had signed a confidentiality agreement. The two sides have publicly battled over the alleged contact for years — with West’s side saying Stanulis signed one, and Stanulis denying he ever did.
A rep for West said in 2016 of Stanulis, “This sad, parasitic maniac has violated every basic human tenet of decency with his story of lies.” Stanulis countered at the time, “He’s trying to bully me with this ridiculous lawsuit.”
Flash forward to last year when Stanulis revealed on the “Hollywood Raw” podcast that West was the “neediest, moodiest and worst tipper” of any star he’d worked for.
West and Kardashian then threatened Stanulis with a $10 million lawsuit, alleging in a cease-and-desist letter that he made, “false and defamatory” statements. Stanulis’ legal team threated to countersue West and now-estranged wife Kim Kardashian, replying at the time, “any efforts undertaken by your clients to enforce any purported ‘confidentiality agreement’ will be met with counterclaims, that will seek significant damages.”
A unfazed Stanulis told us of the new proposed documentary project: “It starts off with $30 million lawsuit, and works backwards, with all the craziness. Why not address the elephant in the room?” He said of the threatened lawsuits, “They threatened to sue me two separate times — once back in the day, and then on a podcast this year. It went viral, and they threatened to sue me again for $10 million, and my attorney countered and it just went away.”
He claimed he’s tried to put the West relationship behind him, but is always being asked about it. “This way nobody has to ask me about this ever again. I swear to you — no matter what I do… somewhere along the line [the job with West] comes up.” With the film there will be, “Nothing left to be said. I’m saying it all,” he told us.
Stanulis hasn’t worked security in years, and has become a director and producer of films including “5th Borough” and “Chronical of a Serial Killer.” But he said of the West project, “They came to me. I like the fact that I’m not … the director, the producer … the whole thing is going to be 1 hour and 20 minutes in a fun, chronological order.”
Ironically, Stanulis recently defended West and Kardashian against a TikTok influencer who alleged he was summoned to a meeting with West set up by Stanulis. Stanulis threatened the social media star with a cease-and-desist letter, and demanded he apologize to the rapper and the reality star.
A rep for West did not get back to us.
The movie would come at a time when West has been in the news for his headline- making divorce from Kim Kardashian, and docuseries on music stars are hot properties, including recent projects on Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Takeshi 6ix9ine, and others.
Share this article:
Source: Read Full Article
