The Netflix documentary Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal debuted yesterday. However, it came as a surprise that actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were seemingly given a free pass. Their FBI transcripts were not used at all.
Here’s a the trailer for the documentary:
The director of the documentary has explained the reason behind this.
Documentary Doesn’t Include Loughlin Transcripts
The documentary used FBI transcripts to reenact conversations between William “Rick” Singer, the mastermind behind the college admissions scam, and his various elite clients.
Noticeably absent from the film, however, were the transcripts of former “Fuller House” star Lori Loughlin and former “Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman.
“We focused on the transcripts that offered the most in terms of pushing the story forward,” director Chris Smith explained to Yahoo News.
“Also, Felicity and Lori’s story were already covered extensively in the media, so in making a documentary on subject matter that people think they already know, we were excited about trying to tell aspects and parts of the story that people might not be as familiar with,” he added.
Related: Lori Loughlin ‘Concerned’ About Netflix Documentary On College Scandal – Desperate To ‘Work Again’
Loughlin And Huffman Became Faces Of College Scandal
Loughlin and Huffman essentially became the faces of this scandal when it broke due to their fame.
Smith further explained, “These are two public figures that people are aware of, so they were interested in following their story, as opposed to a lot of the lesser-known parents.”
This was also why Smith did not feel the need to “re-cast” them with actresses to play them in his reenactments, adding, “They were in so much media, I didn’t feel like it was going to be additive.”
When asked if he feels like the media’s focus on Loughlin and Huffman compared to other parents that were involved was unfair, Smith declined to comment.
“I think that they were the highest-profile celebrities,” he said. “I’m also not fully up to date on why [Huffman] was charged and went to prison and [her husband William H. Macy] didn’t. My writer [Jon Karmen] would be more equipped to answer that.”
Related: Judge Denies Lori Louglin’s Husband’s Bid To Finish Prison Sentence At Home
Documentary Features Footage Of Loughlin’s Daughter
While Loughlin was given a pass with her transcripts not being included, the documentary did feature footage of her daughter. It shows Olivia Jade expressing her disinterest in attending college and saying that she instead wanted to focus on her lucrative career as a social media influencer.
Smith also talked about why this was included:
“We thought that was a detail that was overlooked: Here you had someone who was very successful and quite good at what they were doing.
She did not want to go to college and her parents were trying to get her to go — imagine what those conversations might have been like at home.
You might have a little more empathy for her knowing what her path was, what her opportunities were and what she was walking away from. We were trying to paint a slightly more complex portrait of the whole landscape as opposed to painting it with one brush.”
Since the scandal broke, Olivia Jade has lost millions of followers on social media as well as a partnership with Sephora.
“It doesn’t surprise me, but I don’t feel fully qualified to judge whether that was right or wrong,” Smith said of her fate. “I hope the film shows that, in many cases, the kids were unaware of what was happening, so you would hope that people have a greater understanding that they had nothing to do with the actual scheme.”
Smith Reached Out
Smith said that he reached out to Olivia Jade, Loughlin, Huffman, as well as other parents involved in the case offering them the chance to tell their side of the story.
“Oftentimes we would either get a decline or no reply, but in some cases, people would say that they would like to participate, but were worried that it would have an adverse effect on their sentencing and so didn’t feel comfortable doing an interview,” he said.
Lori Loughlin ended up serving two months in prison for her role in the college admissions scandal and was released at the end of December.
Sources close to Lori Loughlin have said that she is eager to move on with her life.
She can’t be happy that this documentary is reminding the world of what she did once again even though she wasn’t a highlight of the show.