Director Lauren Greenfield on how she got access to Imelda Marcos

As the director of the lauded documentary The Queen Of Versailles, Lauren Greenfield is no stranger to opulent wealth. Still, when she started work on The Kingmaker, the level of wealth—and corruption—she encountered was something new all together. Documenting the life and machinations of Imelda Marcos, The Kingmaker is an interesting look at both Marcos’ public facing persona and all the dastardly deeds she’s either been responsible for or looked the other way on throughout her life in the political limelight.

The A.V. Club sat down with Greenfield at the Toronto International Film Festival to talk about how the director got Marcos’ trust, and how The Kingmaker evolved from a story about animals into a story about an autocrat.