Get ready to relive The Weeknd‘s Super Bowl Halftime Show in a new format. Instead of simply watching the artist’s performance from an audience member’s perspective, Showtime is giving fans the opportunity to go behind the scenes of the production in a new documentary film titled The Show, which shows The Weeknd as he prepared for the event, as well as the directors, producers, choreographers and dancers who helped with bringing the show to life.
The first official trailer for the documentary film, released on Wednesday (Sept. 1), features scenes of The Weeknd in recorded dance rehearsals, a virtual practice session with more than 42 participants watching on a Zoom call, and clips from a run-through held at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. Footage of the crew members setting up the stadium, timing the pyrotechnics to the live performance, and members of the wardrobe department are also scattered throughout the trailer.
One of the men in the clip who worked on the event is heard saying, “The halftime show is the most watched 12 minutes in television.” Jana Fleishman, evp of strategy and communications at Roc Nation, added, “This is our second year working on the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show.”
During a super cut of home video from the halftime show’s participants, another speaker says, “The soul behind the show is really all of these people. They put blood, sweat and tears into every detail.” Another man later adds, “We don’t want anything to go wrong. Not only is everybody watching, but whatever happens on that field is history.”
“The pressure to deliver an iconic, memorable and entertaining performance is felt well beyond the artist, as there are a number of people — behind the scenes — who are vital to its success,” said Todd Kaplan, vp of marketing at Pepsi in a press statement when the documentary was initially announced. “With our new documentary coming to Showtime, we are taking fans on the emotional and thrilling journey of what it takes to make the biggest show of the year — with the added complexity of doing so amidst a global pandemic. With Jesse Collins and a number of super-talented creatives at the helm, The Show chronicles all the drama and hard work that goes into successfully pulling off a show of this magnitude.”
The Weeknd’s Super Bowl Halftime show proved to be a success, with 96.4 million viewers tuning in to see the game. The singer also saw a 41% increase in streams following his performance, according to MRC data.
The Show will premiere on Showtime on Sept. 24, 9 p.m. ET. Check out the trailer below:
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