Asif Kapadia: ‘Diego Maradona respected my tough questions’

Documentary director Asif Kapadia earned the respect of soccer star Diego Maradona by courageously asking him really tough questions.

Following on from his success with documentaries about racing driver Ayrton Senna and popstar Amy Winehouse, Kapadia has turned his attention to a subject that’s still alive – the notorious and controversial Argentine soccer star.

The Oscar winner sat down with the retired sportsman for his latest documentary, simply titled Diego Maradona, and admitted that he sometimes crossed a line when he was probing him about aspects of his life.

“There was a moment when he looked at me and said, ‘You’ve got a nerve asking me these questions... but for that I respect you,’” Kapadia remembered to Time Out magazine. “But once he’s in the right mood, he’s a very good storyteller. I’d have loved to have hung out with him in the ‘80s. I mean, I would have been terrified.”

The British filmmaker had been waiting to do a documentary about Maradona since film school, but it took years for everything to fall into place.

“I’m a football fan and I remember at film school thinking about how great it would be to make a film about Diego Maradona one day,” he recalled. “It took a long time to come about, but (eventually) it felt right because I’d made films about two brilliant people who tragically died young and this was different.”

Kapadia also said he believes Maradona’s story could work as a feature film but pointed out that it would be difficult to find an actor to play him, given his unique body shape, and that soccer scenes “always look clunky”.

The documentary, which is made from more than 500 hours of previously unseen footage, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. It is now showing in U.K. cinemas.