"The Price of Glee," a three-part limited-edition documentary, reveals a lot about the show. Image Source: Collider
"The Price of Glee," a three-part limited-edition documentary, reveals a lot about the show and the untimely deaths of the actors.
Ryan Murphy's Glee debuted in 2015 and ended up breaking all stereotypes, and became a popular program that changed the music and television industries. The cast of the show included late actors Cory Monteith, Naya Rivera, and Mark Salling, among many others, and now the documentary series will lift the curtain on the black cloud that began to lurk over the series.
The series premiered on ID and Discovery+ on January 16, 2023, with friends and relatives of the cast making an appearance to talk about the late actors as well as some behind-the-scenes stuff. Among the relatives are Naya Rivera's father, George, Cory Monteith's roommate Justin Neill, and individuals who worked on the set or surrounded the production during the show's six-season run.
Cory Monteith, who died shortly before the beginning of season five production on July 13th, 2013, from a drug overdose (with heroin, alcohol, and depressants in his system) while coming home to Canada. The actor who portrayed Finn Hudson on the show had his hair cut by the show's hair head of department, Dugg Kirkpatrick, who was responsible for the hair of many of the show's male co-stars on and off the set. According to Dugg, Cory Monteith attended a party at which there was alcohol, and he attempted to avoid drinking at the time, however, one of the cast members told him that if he wishes to drink, he can, and they will be there for him, and he can trust them.
Dugg Kirkpatrick went on to say that Cory Monteith was approved to drink by someone he cared about, which disturbed him, but he did drink, and he believes that starting to consume alcohol again placed him on a path to ruin. Concerning Cory, his friend Stephen Kramer Glickman stated that the actor struggled a lot with fame, adding that the passageway is real, whereas his roommate Justin Neill stated that things got worse when the actor had a female stalker at the time, and they had to insert security cameras outside of the apartment for safety purposes, but the actor eventually moved out.
Justin Neill recalled how Cory Monteith battled with fame and was worried about keeping up with all of the performances and dancing on the set of Glee. Friends and crew members claim that the actor became progressively emotionally unstable and secluded, eventually vanishing from the set or having his stand-in rehearse with the cast.
Justin Neill recalled an incident in which he claimed Cory was just being pursued by paparazzi, and he claimed they seemed to have a bug in his car. Justin Neill asserted that by the finale of the second season, Cory had lost his time, even though he was among the most private people he knew. And now it appears that everybody wants to know everything there is about him. Cory Monteith had continued to struggle since he was a child as his parents were divorced when he was seven years old, and before the age of thirteen, he was ditching school and trying to abuse alcohol and drugs. His mother set up an intervention when he was 19, and he entered rehab in 2001.
Although the smart whip, authentic, and expansive actor was sober for most of his time with Justin Neill, he noticed him having a beer here or there, but reassured his friends he was fine. Justin Neill also talked about Cory Monteith Lea Michele whom the actor dated on and off and stated that Cory Monteith didn't trust the other women he had romantic relationships with when he and Lea would break up which is why he thinks that Cory was drawn to Lea adding that he thinks it's because they both comprehended what the other was going through. Cory Monteith was written out of the final few episodes of "Glee's" Season 4 for him to return to rehab in March 2013. It has been reported that Cory's co-stars from "Glee" wanted to help the actor with his substance misuse at the time, and his mom was aware he was on painkillers.
Justin Neill honors his friend's memory by keeping in contact with Cory Monteith's mother, sending text messages to her on holidays, and trying to refer to himself as her "California son." He also kept a gift from Cory Monteith, a surfboard he did win at the Teen Choice Awards. He explained that because he did grow up surfing, Cory was like, the surfboard tends to mean more to him than it does to him.
Cory's roommate shared with People magazine that even now, he still can't understand that he's gone; Cory was indeed a great friend and he changed his life. Justin said that the actor was immensely thankful for the show, and there was always a level of gratefulness he had this attitude like, he should be continuing to work on roofs in his native Canada in the snow, it wasn't meant to happen! But, as a human, Justin said Cory had days when he was exhausted and he needed solitude and detachment, adding that he merely couldn't be online all the time because he was not the character he was playing but he was a real person, a genuinely nice person and one of the smartest individuals that Justin knew. He finally added that he was neurotic, generous, and a goofball.
The Price of Glee premiered on ID on Monday, January 16 at 9 p.m. ET and is now available to stream on Discovery+ the same day.
