10 Film Documentaries That Accidentally Uncovered Major Scoops

4. Weiner - Anthony's Weiner Ruins Mayoral Campaign

Weiner 2016 documentary
Showtime

Prominent politicians are always going to make for intriguing documentary subjects, but the directors of 2016's Weiner did not expect their film to be as gripping as it turned out.

The production started by trailing U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner following his 2011 resignation, which was instigated when some raunchy pictures of his own personal weiner were leaked onto the web. The purpose of the documentary was to chart Weiner's comeback during his 2013 New York City mayoral campaign, but as you've probably guessed by now, that isn't exactly what happened.

His campaign efforts did get off to a decent start, with promising evidence that he might even go on to win. However, while cameras were rolling on the film, a new batch of photos - which Weiner had sent under the pornstar-sounding alias "Carlos Danger" - were uncovered, swapping his potential comeback for a very painful (and very public) downfall.

The documentary crew captured intimate footage of Weiner and his family struggling with all this heat, which, understandably, led to his refusal to watch the final product. "I know how it ends" he said. "And it wasn't pretty."

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.