Before making "Framing John DeLorean," directors Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce had deep discussions about the challenges they faced.

"Why are there so many different versions of the man? How do you really know a person? Who was the real John DeLorean? Can you be both hero and villain?" says Joyce, recalling questions prompted by the epic rise and fall of the automotive icon.

"Those were such fun conversations, we thought, 'We should be shooting this!' "

So they did exactly that, in essence. "Framing John DeLorean," which opens Friday in Royal Oak and Ann Arbor, takes the unique approach of being a movie within a movie within a movie — all blended into one documentary.

For the backbone of the film, Argott and Joyce take the traditional route of using interviews, photos and archival footage to tell the story of the innovative General Motors executive whose dream of having his own car company crashed into a notorious scandal.

But they also weave in dramatizations of key moments from DeLorean's life, with Alec Baldwin playing the title character. And they include bits of meta-commentary by Baldwin and actress Morena Baccarin, who plays DeLorean's third wife, Cristina Ferrare, who break the fourth wall to talk about their characters.

The documentary has been applauded for its complexity and, as of Wednesday, was rated at more than 90 percent fresh by Rotten Tomatoes.

"It is a quintessentially American story of ambition and greed, with plot twists a fiction writer might consider outlandish," wrote the New York Times.

"It is true that no movie can tell the full story of a man’s life. But movies like this one can tell us something important about our own," wrote Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com.

Argott and Joyce joined forces on "Framing John DeLorean" with Tamir Ardon, a film producer and lifelong DeLorean car buff who was determined to make the definitive film about the man.

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Ardon was a fan of their 2009 film "The Art of the Steal," a documentary on the controversial move of the multi-billion-dollar Barnes art collection to downtown Philadelphia. He told the Free Press he knew after meeting the duo that he needed them to come on board his passion project.

Eventually, the pieces came together for the collaboration that will introduce DeLorean to a generation that knows him best as the guy behind the car featured in the 1985 hit "Back to the Future."

The documentary follows DeLorean's meteoric career as a muscle car pioneer at General Motors in the 1960s and his subsequent effort to create the DeLorean Motor Company, maker of one vehicle, the DeLorean DMC-12.

Desperate for money to keep his dream afloat, DeLorean was arrested in 1982 after a government sting operation; he was charged with trafficking cocaine. After what was called the trial of the century by some, he was acquitted in 1984. Not long after that, he was back in court on charges of skimming $9 million from investors to his car company. He was acquitted of those charges, too, but his reputation was shattered by then.

DeLorean died in 2005. At the time, he was living in a one-bedroom apartment and still working on a comeback.

Filmmakers have been trying for years to make a DeLorean movie. A decade ago, there was talk of four projects vying to be the one that moved forward. Argott says the very idea of those multiple unproduced films became an entry point into their documentary.

"Why is it that everybody in Hollywood is so intrigued by this story and why couldn't they pull it off?," he says.

Argott and Joyce set about a process that involved making the documentary portion first, then filming the re-created scenes over seven days. Then they edited the two parts together, along with the actor commentaries.

Joyce says they were fortunate that Baldwin and Baccarin were willing to take on the dual acting/musing roles.

"It's a tough sell to an actor, especially actors of the caliber we were lucky enough to get. ... They took a huge leap of faith with us."

And they discovered something remarkable. As Baldwin told USA Today, he had wanted to play DeLorean for years, and he actually got a phone call from the auto magnate a couple of decades ago.

DeLorean actually wanted Baldwin to play him.

"It was a very short conversation, and it never went anywhere. I don’t know why these projects died," Baldwin said in the interview. "But whenever a living historic figure anoints you to do a project like that, that's a cool thing. I'm not really that intoxicated by any of the work I do, but when he called, I thought, 'That’s pretty cool.' "

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In a sense, DeLorean lived his life as if he were starring in a movie. "Image was everything to John," says Argott. "When you're trying to cultivate a specific image, especially someone like John who understood marketing, he was very aware of that stuff. Ultimately, the success that he garnered at GM, he was able to use that story" to launch the DeLorean Motor Company.

That was his genius, according to Argott, and his downfall. "He was a house of cards. They didn't have anything other than John. They had John's image, John's press clippings." When the financial side later collapsed, DeLorean was willing to do almost anything to keep it going, even entering the scheme that resulted in his arrest.

One of the most powerful dramatized scenes shows Baldwin as DeLorean obsessing over which tie to wear to court as his wife pleads with him to talk to their two young children, who are scared their father will go to prison.

That moment came from conversations with the real Cristina Ferrare, who was "a friend of the production," says Joyce.

"That was so powerful to hear from her perspective, we thought it would be good for one of those moments to show where John's head was at as the world was crumbling around him."

In that scene, DeLorean's daughter is played by Argott and Joyce's own young daughter.

"We joke that we have to give her something for therapy later. ...'You have to act really sad until we say cut!' " says Joyce with a laugh.

The directors say they left the movie feeling DeLorean was neither a hero nor a villain, just a complex person.

"John was certainly flawed, but I don't think he was all bad and I don't think he was all good. Now, more than ever, it's important to look at the gray areas of people," says Argott. "As the media and filmmakers in general, we're always tasked with retelling stories. That's a big responsibility and one film, frankly, is going to get it wrong. "

That is why "Framing John DeLorean" is three films in one.

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com.

'Framing John DeLorean'

Opens Friday

Not rated

Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak and Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor

'Framing John DeLorean' — Benefiting Racing for Kids

6-10 p.m. Mon.

Patriot Theater at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial

32 Lake Shore Drive, Grosse Pointe Farms

Event includes red carpet reception with drinks and appetizers, screening of the film and a Q&A with producer Tamir Ardon and Grosse Pointe author, Pat Wright. DeLorean cars will be on display.

www.warmemorial.org

$100, VIP box seating $150