Netflix's Trainwreck doc revisits Rob Ford's chaotic mayoral run and public struggles

The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jun 16, 2025 1:29 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Shianne Brown inactive remembers her disbelief erstwhile she heard, fractional a satellite away, that Toronto politician Rob Ford had been caught connected video smoking ace cocaine.

"What the hellhole is happening successful Toronto? That's crazy," the filmmaker from London, England, recalls reasoning erstwhile the quality broke successful 2013.

The precocious politician rapidly became an planetary spectacle, archetypal for the bombshell allegation that helium yet admitted to and past for the rollercoaster of scandals that followed — which included allegations of nationalist drunkenness and physically knocking implicit a metropolis councillor.

More than a decennary later, Brown is the manager down Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem, a caller Netflix documentary chronicling Ford's emergence to powerfulness and his chaotic clip successful office.

Out Tuesday, the episode is portion of the streamer's Trainwreck anthology series, which, according to a logline, examines "some of the astir disastrous events ever to stroke up successful mainstream media."

"I wanted to truly pat into the quality being that is Rob Ford, not the governmental header that is Rob Ford," said Brown connected a video telephone from London.

"There is simply a broadside of this communicative wherever you conscionable spell afloat unit into the scandal, but that didn't consciousness similar it did the communicative justness oregon did Rob Ford and his galore supporters and his friends and household justice."   

Brown asked Ford's brother, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, to enactment successful the film, but helium "kindly declined."   

"It's specified a tragic communicative due to the fact that of the mode helium died and you've truly got to respect the family's wishes, peculiarly with a task similar this, wherever you're going to pat into the scandals and the hard broadside of the story," said Brown.

Ford died of crab successful 2016 astatine property 46.

The movie weaves unneurotic archival footage and interviews — with section journalists including Robyn Doolittle, who extensively covered Ford's governmental vocation and authored a publication connected him, arsenic good arsenic insiders from Ford's circle, including his erstwhile operator Jerry Agyemang — to hint the populist question that swept Ford into bureau successful 2010 and the nationalist unravelling that made him infamous.

Controversial politician positioned himself arsenic 'underdog'

Brown recovered Ford — who built a mostly suburban basal of voters with his tax-cutting, anti-establishment docket — had a mode of making the "disenfranchised consciousness emboldened."

"He would often beryllium the idiosyncratic who speaks to the cleaner, janitor, the radical who support our lives going but mightiness not ever get a thank-you from everyone else," she said.

Brown says Ford's rhetoric of lasting up for "the people" against what helium called "downtown elites" resonates today, speaking to a broader planetary displacement successful however powerfulness is won.

"It's a communicative astir the underdog. I deliberation we've seen it successful elections astir the world," she said, pointing to the Brexit referendum successful the U.K. and Donald Trump's archetypal statesmanlike predetermination successful the U.S., some of which galore initially dismissed arsenic improbable outcomes.

"I felt Rob Ford wasn't needfully a idiosyncratic who had malicious, vindictive [intentions]. He really seemed similar helium was a antheral who wanted to assistance people, but fractional the metropolis conscionable didn't hold with his politics."

At the aforesaid time, says Brown, Ford was "quite antagonistic to people. He went aft the media."

Hostile narration with media

The movie captures the arguable mayor's often hostile narration with section reporters, showing him repeatedly lashing retired astatine those helium saw arsenic adversaries.

"I deliberation if helium conscionable admitted [smoking crack] archetypal up, that would person truly helped his cause. The backmost and distant with the media, calling them liars […] I deliberation that's partially wherever he'd gone wrong."

Brown says the deeper she dug into the story, the much she saw however often cameras captured Ford spiralling successful a rhythm of substance abuse. Ranging from societal media footage of him visibly intoxicated astatine the Taste of the Danforth festival successful 2013 to a clip of him stumbling and swearing extracurricular City Hall successful 2014, viral videos of his bizarre nationalist behaviour made him casual fodder for late-night American TV. He adjacent appeared arsenic a impermanent connected Jimmy Kimmel Live! amid the ace scandal.   

"This was a antheral battling addiction successful an intensely nationalist arena. It's a disease. I truly wanted it to travel crossed that this was a antheral who was struggling and helium had to face the media each azygous day," she said, adding that she wonders if the communicative would've been reported otherwise today, considering increasing consciousness astir intelligence health. 

Brown hopes the movie makes radical see the circumstances that culminated successful the notorious ace video. In the aftermath of the scandal, Ford was stripped of cardinal mayoral powers. 

"What led him to that moment?" she said. 

"It's not truly for america to judge, and evidently I'm telling this story, but I conscionable anticipation it makes radical deliberation a spot otherwise astir who helium was and what happened to him."