How did your friends and colleagues react when they found out you were doing a documentary on the world's most famous intern?

Bailey: They all had this sort of reaction: "Well, what's she really like?" And that's kind of the key to this whole thing. Everybody wants to know what Monica's really like. People at large see that here is essentially a normal person. So, I think they're more interested in knowing what Monica is really like than what Madonna is really like, for example. Also, the public goes on instinct. Why then would they want to ask what is she really like, unless they suspected that what she's really like is not what they've seen reported. And it's true -- there's a vast difference between the Monica in print and on TV and the Monica in reality.

Over the course of filming, did your view of Monica change at all? Was there anything about her that particularly surprised you?

Barbato: First of all, this is a very difficult film to make, because on the one hand you feel the responsibility of dealing with this very weighty, historical story that you want to contextualize. You want to maintain a kind of integrity as a filmmaker. Secondly, you have this person who's been betrayed by virtually every important person in her life outside of her family. I think when we started the film, we had a similar view to a lot of people out there about Monica. It was ambivalent and also, well, leaning towards negative. During the course of filming, we learned that this is a bright, strong-willed, funny, compassionate woman. And above all, strong.

Bailey: I think sometimes when you read something in the papers you just don't get the full force of it. To me, it was just how she survived this whole process. I'm much older than she is, but when I was 24, to have withstood the scrutiny of the whole world media not just looking at me, but judging me and condemning me and having every aspect of my privacy completely annihilated, to me, it was like, my goodness. How did she survive?

From Tammy Faye to Michael Alig and now Monica, you've made a career out of profiling people many would deem unsympathetic. In order to make an effective documentary, is it important to sympathize with your subjects or do you prefer to stay objective?

Barbato: I think that not only as a documentary filmmaker, but just as an ordinary citizen, it's important to try and reserve judgment. You know, people have a little bit of good and a little bit of bad. I think that as a culture, we love to turn people into villains. It's not that simple. So, we are very intrigued and curious about people who have been vilified, particularly by the media.

Bailey: I think it's interesting the way certain characters find themselves in positive feedback loops and certain people find themselves in negative feedback loops. It seems as if someone like [former Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani has emerged as a world hero, but there are lots of aspects of Giuliani that aren't particularly savory that you can't speak about right now. He's sort of surfing this enormous tide of goodwill for simply being in a particular place at a particular time.

It's extraordinary how who we really are doesn't really get reported in the media, and I think that's what motivates us. In truth, the notion of documentary objectivity is a bit of a falsehood because the moment you make an edit, someone is bringing an opinion to something. You do become subjectively involved.

In terms of content, did you have free reign to shoot whatever you want or were there certain aspects of Monica's life that remained off-limits?

Barbato: Well, Monica Lewinsky had no editorial control whatsoever, so we had the freedom to kind of explore and shape this film in a way we felt would make the best film. I don't think there were any restrictions or limitations.

So, she didn't have final cut or anything like that?

Barbato: She had no editorial control whatsoever. She saw two cuts and that was it.

What was her response when she first saw it?

Bailey: It wasn't a happy one. [Laughs] I suppose we had discounted the effect of the pain and trauma this whole experience represented for her. So, for example, hearing her conversations with Linda Tripp -- that level of betrayal is quite stunning. Also, some of the things she says, to imagine the whole world hearing them must be unbearable. When she saw those things and heard those things it was very, very upsetting to her. I don't think she regards the film as a pleasant experience for her by any means.

Even so, the crowd was pretty respectful and supportive of her. I was a little surprised.

Bailey: We were quite surprised, too. We had expected the audience to be much more hostile. It's the way she carries herself, it's the way she comes across. I think as she walked out into that room, the people in that audience were definitely ready to have a go at her. But, as she explained herself and engaged with the audience, they pulled back from their judgments, which were based on not really knowing her.

It's no secret that Monica was displeased with the way her televised interview with Barbara Walters was edited together. For someone who's had so many bad experiences with the press, how did you get her to trust you and open up?

Bailey: I don't think, in a way, she really did trust us ...

Barbato: To edit the film.

Bailey: I think it was difficult for her to reconcile herself to having no control or participation in that process. You know, here's someone who's been betrayed by Ken Starr, by the White House, by Linda Tripp. We took our editing responsibilities very seriously. On the one hand, we didn't want to betray someone again. On the other hand, we felt we needed to be fair and as objective as we could be.

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