Brand: A Second Coming documents Brand's journey from a troubled youth in Essex to a Hollywood star to an activist encouraging social, spiritual and economic revolution. The official website describes the film as following "Russell Brand as he dives headlong into drugs, sex and fame in an attempt to find happiness, only to realize we have all been nurtured on bad ideas and empty celebrity idols."
Timoner was reportedly the sixth director attached to the documentary; the late Albert Maysles was one of her predecessors who worked on the film.
It is Timoner's second Russell Brand documentary, the first being a short feature entitled Russell Brands the Bird, which was released in 2014.
The genesis of the film was a documentary about Happiness in 2009, with Brand as the sole subject. The film then expanded as Brand himself transformed from a movie star who stole the show in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and then seeming to leave his Hollywood career behind as he concentrated more on social activism. The film documents transformation but also looks back at his early career, including the "Sachsgate" controversy, notorious in the UK but less known in the U.S.
The documentary includes interviews and footage of Brand's intimate circle, including his parents Barbara and Ron Brand, manager John Noel, friends Noel Gallagher, Jonathan Ross, Matt Morgan, Gareth Roy, and even ex-wife Katy Perry. Brand interviews a diverse group of people on the topic of spirituality, including Rosie O'Donnell, Oliver Stone, Mike Tyson, David Lynch, Ben Dunn and Daniel Pinchbeck.
