There’s an AI twist (a “terrifying creative choice”) to a Netflix documentary about dishonest music mogul Lou Pearlman, writes NICK OVERALL.

Behind all the glitz and glam of ‘90s boy bands lies a more sinister undercurrent.

So recounts Dirty Pop, the newest doco to make a splash on Netflix.

This three-part series tells the story of music mogul Lou Pearlman, the mastermind who created NSYNC, The Backstreet Boys and what’s believed to be the longest-running ponzi scheme in US history. He died while in prison in Florida in 2016.

For more than two decades “Big Poppa”, as he was known in music circles, enticed investors and banks to inject cash into companies that only ever existed on paper. 

It’s believed Pearlman was able to defraud people out of around $US1 billion and it was this same money he used to grow his prolific boy band empire.

Some of the members of those boy bands speak about their relationship with the scam artist in this series. The bands would eventually go on to sue Pearlman for misrepresentation and fraud.

This is a bizarre but fascinating tale that serves simultaneously as a music and true crime doco, a wickedly entertaining combo that’s quickly pushed it to Netflix’s number 1 spot this month.

One of the most intriguing choices about the series is its use of artificial intelligence in its storytelling.

In 2002 Pearlman published an autobiography called Bands, Brands and Billions that the documentary makers have taken direct quotes from to help paint a clearer picture of the man’s psyche.

But rather than put the words up on screen, they’ve instead used real promotional footage of Pearlman speaking in his office and mixed it with an AI-generated voice reading out parts of his autobiography. The voice has then been synchronised with the movement of his mouth to create an illusion of him actually saying the words from his book.

A bold, if kind-of terrifying creative choice here. The directors have expressed no ethical qualms over the decision, saying Pearlman himself faked out so many people so deepfaking him felt very rooted in character.

The doco does make it clear, with captions telling audience members: “This footage has been digitally altered to generate his voice and synchronise his lips.”

Bye Bye Bye to the age of AI-free docos, I guess.

IN 2020 Netflix’s hit Tiger King launched a whole new popular sub-genre of documentaries: lunatics obsessed with animals.

Now the show’s creators are about to drop their production on Binge.

Called Chimp Crazy, this series dives into a very strange culture of women who care for primates as if they were young human children. Like if you mixed Tiger King’s Carole Baskin with King Kong.

The show follows one of these bizarre women named Tonia Haddix and her obsession with a chimpanzee named Tonka.

“Tonka is the love of my life,” says Haddix in the doco.

“I love him like a son.”

I won’t spoil what bizarre events unfold, but will say this strange relationship resulted in an intricately planned hoax, a four-year battle with PETA and a heated court case.

Chimp Crazy drops on August 18, and like Tiger King before it, this will be an apes*** true story indeed.

NOW streaming on SBS On Demand is 12 Angry Men, a 1957 classic that remains as relevant today as this morning’s global headlines.

It takes place almost entirely in one room, where a dozen jurors debate the trial of an 18-year-old Latino man accused of stabbing his father to death.

All 11 of the men are ready to vote guilty, except for juror 8 (Henry Fonda) who opens the door to doubt.

The following 90 minutes play out in real-time, a fierce discourse that puts the group’s prejudices on full display.

It’s a masterclass in dialogue that’s as heart-pounding as any great action scene.

Its arrival on SBS On Demand marks a great, free opportunity for those who haven’t seen it to find out why this film is still talked about so widely today.