Gary Coleman's life and death in Utah are covered in a new documentary

To track down the life story of former child actor Gary Coleman, British filmmaker Robin Dashwood visited Santaquin, Utah last fall.

“It doesn't get any further away from Hollywood,” Dashwood said of the Utah County town where the “Diff'rent Strokes” star spent the last five years of his life.

“He was very distrustful of people at that point, and that's one of the reasons he wanted to move to Utah,” Dashwood said in a phone interview last week. “He found that in Utah, he wasn't treated like Gary the Hollywood star. He was treated like himself.”

Dashwood has made a documentary called “Gary” that chronicles Coleman's career as a child star, his struggle with kidney failure and the people entrusted with managing his money, as well as his tumultuous relationship with a young woman from Utah with whom he lived until his death in 2010. The film is set to be available to stream on Peacock starting Thursday.

Coleman had come to Utah in 2005 to star in “Church Ball,” a church-themed sports comedy from the makers of “The Singles Ward” films. During filming, Coleman met a 19-year-old Utah woman named Shannon Price. Shortly after Coleman bought a house in Santaquin, Price moved in. The two were married on a mountaintop in Nevada in 2007. They divorced a year later, although she continued to live in the house until his death.

Dashwood's film begins with the headlines announcing Coleman's death in a Provo hospital on May 28, 2010. The introduction includes the 911 call Price made two days earlier when Coleman had fallen and suffered a head injury – the bleeding was so severe that she could not treat the wound, Price told the 911 operator.

After this prologue, the film tells Coleman's life story in chronological order: Coleman was born in Zion, Illinois. At age seven, he participated in a children's fashion show and caught the attention of Victor Perillo, a talent agent from Chicago. Perillo gets Coleman a job in a television commercial for a local bank.

By age 10, Coleman and his parents were in Los Angeles, and he was getting roles. After a guest appearance on the Normal Lear-produced sitcom “Good Times,” Coleman was in Lear's next project – “Diff'rent Strokes” – as one of two brothers from Harlem (the other brother was played by Todd Bridges) adopted by a wealthy Park Avenue businessman (Conrad Bain).

“I remember seeing him on 'Diff'rent Strokes' as a kid,” Dashwood said. “I thought he was great, as did most people.”

The show was a hit when it debuted in 1978, and Coleman's catchphrase, “What are you talking about, Willis?” became ubiquitous – so much so that Coleman grew to hate it as an adult, according to people interviewed in “Gary.”

What Dashwood didn't know was what happened to Coleman in the years after the show was canceled in 1986.

“What happened to him afterwards was not really reported here in Europe,” Dashwood said. “So we didn't know anything about his health problems, the court case with his parents or the relationship with Shannon. We heard that he had died and that was all.”

This distance, Dashwood said, helped him in filming the documentary.

“Obviously, as soon as you look online, you're hit with a tidal wave that says something sinister happened to him at the end,” Dashwood said. “I had no preconceived notions about the story because I hadn't heard much about it, so [I] could approach the matter with fresh eyes.”

Most of Coleman's surviving friends eventually agreed to be interviewed, Dashwood said — although some were easier to reach than others. (The most notable person who never responded to requests, he said, was pop star Janet Jackson, who appeared in several episodes of “Diff'rent Strokes” as a teenager.)

Perillo, Coleman's original agent, was one of the first to agree—and through Perillo, Dashwood gained access to Coleman's parents, Sue and Willie, “who are very suspicious when it comes to press work.” In 1989, 21-year-old Gary Coleman sued his parents and his business consultant, Anita DeThomas (who died in 2006), accusing them of embezzling the money he had earned as a child actor.

In the documentary, Sue and Willie Coleman claim they acted in their son's best interests. “They don't believe they did anything wrong,” Dashwood said.

Bridges, Coleman's TV brother, also quickly came on board, Dashwood said. One of the film's most touching scenes shows Bridges walking through the now-empty recording studio where “Diff'rent Strokes” was filmed.

It took some time to persuade Price to give an interview, Dashwood said. “I think she feels she's been mistreated by the press in the past and is obviously very aware of all the talk about her on social media,” he said. “We managed to convince her that she really needed to tell her side of the story because otherwise other people would speak on her behalf or accuse her of this and that. She understood that and I think she was happy to go along with it in the end.”

The documentary takes a neutral stance towards its interviewees. “Because of the way I made it, having them speak into the camera, they're speaking directly to the audience,” said Dashwood. “It's almost like a confession. They tell you what they think and feel. My job was to present the evidence, present their statements as balanced as possible and then leave it to the audience to decide.”

Although the film takes no sides, Dashwood acknowledged that he came to a conclusion during filming: He said he believes Price when she says she had nothing to do with Coleman's death.

“It's pretty clear she didn't do it. There's no evidence of that. The police were very clear. They investigated and couldn't find any evidence of a crime,” he said. Price acknowledges in the film, Dashwood said, that “they had a complicated emotional and physical relationship.”

Dashwood said he had made a film about an actor who was exploited by those around him: “I hope we avoid being exploitative by not making this a highly dramatic, slightly cheesy thing. We lay out the case and let everyone have their say and present the facts.”

Dashwood said he hopes viewers of “Gary” will be reminded of what a great talent he was, and “I hope they're quite moved by the many challenges he had to overcome. … It's a very tragic story, but hopefully an inspiring one at the same time.”