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Alex Gibney on Amazon's TCA panel for its first docu-series, "The New Yorker Presents."
"I'm thinking about it," Gibney told Business Insider at Monday's Television Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles when we asked if he was planning another documentary on the secretive organization.
While he didn't go into details, he did explain how hard it is to leave his documentary subjects in the past.
"A lot of my films keep developing," Gibney said after sitting on Amazon's TCA panel for its upcoming docu-series, "The New Yorker Presents," which he executive produces.
"And one of the interesting things about being lucky enough to do what I do is that the characters and stories tend to follow you around, and pop up in unusual ways," he continued. "And sometimes, like in the 'Ghostbusters' movie, the streams cross."
Gibney's "Going Clear" is on the short list for an Oscar nomination. HBO ensured it would be eligible by releasing the doc in theaters for a limited time ahead of its March television premiere.
As soon as it aired on HBO, "Going Clear" became a lightning rod for media coverage of Scientology, and a thorn in the Church's side.
HBO
"It was controversial," Gibney said. "It was almost as if I had let a safety valve to happen, that there was a lot of pent-up frustration. People thought they couldn't talk about this subject. And I think what happened with 'Going Clear' was that it allowed people to begin to talk, which was both healing for a lot of people who had been in [Scientology], and also a relief, and a great kick for people who felt they wanted to say something and couldn't."
When asked how he felt about the Netflix documentary series "Making a Murderer," which is experiencing a very similar notoriety at the moment, Gibney told BI that he still hadn't caught the series, but was looking forward to it.
He did have these few words of advice for the show's creators: "Ride the wave."
Read more live coverage from the Television Critics Association press tour.