She was the most famous woman in the world. Her marriages (there were eight), affairs, jewelry, and medical disasters were all chronicled by the tabloids and paparazzi. But away from the spotlight, another side of Elizabeth Taylor—witty, wounded, desperate to prove herself—was shared with the close circle of confidants who surrounded her throughout her tumultuous life.

And it's one that Nanette Burstein, director of the new HBO documentary "Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes," was able to highlight after the Taylor Estate reached out to her and allowed her to review 40 hours of unreleased audio of interviews the screen legend conducted with journalist Richard Meryman in the 1960s.

“It’s extremely rare for a legendary movie star to be so candid about her inner life,” Burstein says. “It was an opportunity to not only understand this revered figure in film history, but also to chart the arc of the women’s movement and the way female roles began to shift in the ’50s and ’60s.”

Taylor rose through the studio system, first breaking hearts as a 12-year-old jockey in "National Velvet," then moving on to more mature roles as wives and debutantes in such films as "Conspirator" and "Father of the Bride" while still a teenager. Burstein's film features promotional material for a 16-year-old Taylor practically drooling over her looks. It's an advertising campaign that hasn't aged well.