From the director of Amy and Senna comes the new documentary-film Diego Maradona, charting the extraordinary life of one the greatest footballers of all time with reams of never-before-seen footage.
The film centres around Maradona’s time at Napoli, where he moved from Barcelona with great fanfare in the 1984, and whom he dragged from relative obscurity to championship winners in one of the fiercest league’s in European football.
His talent intertwined with the most dysfunctional city in Europe to create a wild and sometimes explosive story both on and off the field, in a relationship which grew more and more conflicted.
After covering the lives of Amy Winehouse and Ayrton Senna, which were both tragically cut short in their prime, Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia wanted to understand what happens when genius grows old.
”Diego Maradona is about an uneducated streetwise kid from a shantytown, thrust into the height of worldwide fame, earning huge amounts of money, given a Godlike status, all because of his magical left foot,” says Kapadia.
“I wanted to try to understand this charismatic genius, to show all sides of his personality, focussing on his time in Naples, when he became the greatest player in the world, but also where his problems began to spiral out of control. It was vital to make a film about Diego which appeals to people who love football but also those who have little interest in sport or who see Maradona as a cheat.
“I wanted to challenge these preconceptions and to understand this complex, brilliant character – enabling him to tell his story in his own words, revealing his struggles for success but also the devastating effects of fame and fortune.”
Take a look at an exclusive clip of the movie:
Diego Maradona is in cinemas from 14th June.
