Marina Zenovich‘s “I’m Chevy Chase, and You’re Not” is not your average celebrity documentary. From the outset, it is clear that the comedian, who is 82, had no editorial control over the project.

A minute into the CNN doc, Zenovich (“Lance,” “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind”) can be heard off camera saying to Chase, “I’m just trying to figure you out.”

His response: “No shit. It’s not going to be easy for you.

“Why is it not going to be easy?” Zenovich asks.

“You’re not bright enough,” Chase deadpans. “How’s that?” Then the comedian grins.

While she was taken aback by Chase’s response, Zenovich was also relieved.

“I’d never done an interview where someone was so rude to me,” Zenovich says. “But I was so worried going into that first interview with him about how I was going to say to him, like, ‘Everyone thinks you’re an asshole.’ I thought if I did, he would throw me out of his house. So the minute he said that to me, I had a way in.”

The docu, premiering Jan. 1 on CNN, charts Chase’s rise from breakout “Saturday Night Live” to leading man, his 3 marriages, his addiction to cocaine and alcohol, heart failure, childhood abuse, depression, failed talk show, and the star’s various on-set disputes with actors like Terry Sweeney and the cast of  the NBC comedy “Community.”

“I wanted to figure out who was the real person behind the conflicted, guarded and fragile man we see on camera,” Zenovich says. “What was behind the surface of his slightly intimidating superstar bravado?

Was there any self-awareness there? Having interviewed Chevy at length, I have to say that yes, it’s all there – and a whole lot of pain and heartache too.”

Zenovich and her husband producing partner P.G. Morgan talk about why Chase decided to make the doc and getting someone, anyone, from “Community” to give an interview.

Zenovich: When I first sat down with Armstrong, he was sitting at the edge of a seat and ready to spar with me. That is exciting because you don’t know what you’re going get. Then I did Jerry Brown, whom I tried to do that with but he had no interest whatsoever. Each person is different. Chevy was willing to go there, but he would stop himself. He wouldn’t go all the way. The interviews with him were very hard.

When it comes to celeb documentaries, the celeb is usually promoting something like a tour, a fashion line or a book. Chase wasn’t promoting anything.

Morgan: They felt as a family that he wasn’t getting his due. That there’s been a whole run of these documentaries about other people from his generation. I think it hurt that he hadn’t had the same recognition.

People who said no to interviews, like Steve Martin and Christopher Guest, were really saying, ‘We don’t like the guy’?

Zenovich: I can’t answer for them, but I think that the absences speak for themselves. Whether it’s scheduling, personal, or saving it for their own docu. In the end, I think we got the right mix of people. I was initially disappointed that we didn’t get more people from “Community,” but there are things people don’t want to talk about.

How hard was it to get anyone from “Community”?

Every single person said no. I ran into (“Community” creator) Dan Harmon at  screening of “Deaf President Now!” and I got his number. I was so excited. I thought it was going to happen but then he declined. I was so lucky to get Jay Chandrasekhar (“Community” director). He has such amazing delivery and he was willing to go there. If Jay had said no, I would have been screwed.

I’m Chevy Chase, and You’re Not premieres Thursday, January 1, on CNN.

The film streams live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN Connected TV and mobile apps on Jan. 1.