For almost 40 years, the legacy of iconic movie star Natalie Wood has been overshadowed by her tragic drowning in 1981 at age 43, off the coast of Catalina Island, California 

Now, her daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner wants to bring the focus back to her mother’s remarkable life with the documentary, Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind. “We didn’t want it to be a fluff piece or a love letter to her,” says the 49-year-old actress and co-producer of the HBO documentary that premieres on HBO now. “We wanted to show the real woman because watching this you can see that she lived such a full, beautiful and shining life.”

French filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau – a lifelong fan of the actress, who has produced over 150 ‘making of’ documentaries and featurettes – partnered with Wagner to direct an intimate portrait of her mother. It includes excerpts from Wood’s filmography starting at age five and including Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Rebel Without a Cause (1956), Splendor in the Grass (1961), and West Side Story (1961).

A powerful portrait of Natalie Wood emerges through her filmography, but an even more defined image comes into focus through the multitude of personal photographs and home movies, some of which Gregson Wagner discovered in her family’s storage unit. They all paint a rich portrait of a devoted mother, wife and friend whose professional choices were also boldly forward-thinking for that time. Never-before-seen footage of Wood’s second wedding to Wagner was a particular treasure, as well as an article for Ladies Home Journal that Wood had written in 1966 which was never published. Gregson Wagner reads excerpts that illuminate Wood’s innermost thoughts on fame, affairs of the heart, and family.

“It was crazy to find that footage of Natalie and R.J.’s wedding still sitting around unprocessed,” Bouzereau said. “We had an embarrassment of riches to share but in the end, we just tried to include as much as we could that would support the story we were telling about Natalie and the way she lived her life.”

Close friend Mia Farrow talks about Natalie’s devotion to her children; George Hamilton speaks to her kind professionalism and Robert Redford recalls how Wood fought against the studio to get him cast in his first lead role in her 1965 film, Inside Daisy Clover. There’s also one black and white photo that speaks a thousand words: Natalie, gazing into the camera with the knowing poise of power, seated at the head of a studio board table surrounded by her all-male team of managers and handlers.

Wood had once been suspended from her studio contract for 18 months when she challenged Jack Warner to let her make her own film choices but eventually he relented, and she was permitted to choose one film a year.

Gregson Wagner is proud that her self-assured mother was in charge of her own life and career-long before the era of #TimesUp and #MeToo. “Growing up, she was definitely the boss in our house and the one who organized everything and set all the rules,” she reminisces. “I didn’t know about all these battles she had with the work stuff till later but it didn’t surprise me because she was always such a role model. I think it’s important to show that you can be tiny and feminine, but still have balls of steel and stand up for yourself and fight for what you believe in – and I hope people take that from the documentary. Also, I think the narrative of her life was a little skewed with people who actually didn’t know her but thought from the way she died that she was some sort of tragic, fragile woman and she just wasn’t.”

One of the emotional highlights of the documentary features Gregson Wagner sitting down with her father, British producer Richard Gregson, who was married to Wood from 1969-72. In the last interview he did before he passed away last year, Gregson talked about their deep connection and how his infidelities led to the strong-willed Wood throwing him out of their home and changing the locks. “It was really powerful talking to Daddy Gregson because we knew that he was dying and that this was probably the last time I would see him and I was so proud of his courage,” she says. “The night before the interview, when we were already there (in England), he’d fallen out of bed and broken his wrist. But he didn’t tell anyone until we finished the interview, so that was very meaningful because it wouldn’t have felt complete without his part of the story.”

When Wagner sat down with her stepfather Robert J. Wagner – the man she lovingly refers to as Daddy Wagner – she admits it was “intense” talking to him for the first time on-camera about the night her mother died. Wood’s death was ruled an accidental drowning after she disappeared from the family boat anchored off Catalina Island while Robert Wagner and her Brainstorm co-star, Christopher Walken, were drinking on the top deck. Wagner and Wood were married twice – from 1957 to 1962 and again from 1972 until her death – and the family has been haunted by unrelenting tabloid speculation that Wagner was involved in her death to this day.

“We knew it was an important part of the story and we were honest with my stepdad about what the questions would be,” she says. “I wanted him to feel safe enough to say what he wanted to say because he just turned 90 and I don’t know how much longer I’m going to have him, so it was important to set the record straight for himself, for her legacy and for my family.”

While Natalie Wood famously never won an Oscar, she won three Golden Globes after being nominated eight times, and Bouzereau was able to locate and include rare footage of the star at the 1980 Golden Globes, accepting her win for Best TV Actress in the limited series From Here to Eternity. “I remember clearly sitting in our house on Canon Drive, and seeing my parents getting dressed up to go out to the Golden Globes because she was nominated,” Gregson Wagner lights up as she talks about her own memories of that night. “Later I was sitting on the couch with my younger sister, Courtney, and our nanny, Willie May, when they announced her name and we were just hooting and hollering even though we didn’t really know what it meant! All we knew was that she won an award,” she adds wistfully, “and mom looked so excited and my dad seemed excited, so we got excited too!”