Evan Rachel Wood’s documentary ‘Phoenix Rising’ to spotlight alleged abuse by Marilyn Manson


Evan Rachel Wood’s upcoming documentary “Phoenix Rising” dropped its trailer earlier this week.

It came a year after she first came out with the bombshell revelation that she was abused sexually by shock rocker Marilyn Manson.

On said trailer, Wood makes sense of her relationship with Marilyn Manson, whom she calls by his real name, Brian Warner.

The upcoming two-part documentary is described in an article on Rolling Stone as “a chronicle of the ways Wood alleges Warner abused her sexually and controlled her,” and that it “also follows her as she advocates for the Phoenix Act, a 2019 law that extended the statute of limitations for sexual abuse survivors in California.”

In one of the scenes highlighted in the trailer, Wood is seen looking at photos from before she met Warner, saying “It’s hard for me to look at these photos.”

Then she reads from a journal account entry of hers when she first met Warner, wherein she wrote “I made a new friend,” after which she then mimics the sound of a bomb dropping. before it cut to her saying, “I’m here to talk about Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson.”

Also seen in the trailer is Wood’s mother and brother, who have also been interviewed in the documentary with the former saying about Warner, “he studied how to manipulate people. He groomed her. He’s a predator.”

Since Wood revealed the abuses done to her, several women have also come out with their own allegations that they too experienced the same from Warner. These include Esme Bianca, an actress who appeared for several seasons in "Game Of Thrones," and model Ashley Morgan Smithline.

Some of the women whom Warner allegedly abused are also featured in the documentary. Wood herself said what she ultimately wants to accomplish with the documentary. “We need to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”

That and the catharsis from making the film. “I realize that this is the first time I haven’t been doubted or questioned or shamed. This is the first time that someone was really listening. And I was like, ‘What is this feeling?’ And it’s this feeling of being believed.”

“Phoenix Rising” is an official entry to the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

The documentary is set for streaming on HBO Max this March 15.