Asif Kapadia, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary ‘Amy’, is to helm a feature documentary about the legendary former soccer player Diego Maradona.
Altitude Film Distribution has taken UK rights to the film, titled ‘Maradona’. The company also distributed ‘Amy’, which took $5.39 million, making it the highest-grossing British documentary of all time at the UK box office.
The Maradona movie has the same filmmaking team behind it as ‘Amy’ and their previous documentary ‘Senna’, Variety reported.
Kapadia will have access to hundreds of hours of never-before-seen footage from Maradona’s personal archive.
“I have long been a fan of Maradona. I was taken by his character, his genius, honesty, passion, humor and vulnerability. I was fascinated by his journey; wherever he went there were moments of incredible brilliance and drama. He was a leader, taking his teams to the very top, but also many lows in his career. He was always the little guy fighting against the system, against the wealthy, the powerful and he was willing to do anything, to use all of his cunning and intelligence to win,” he said.
“Diego is the greatest player of all time but with flaws and weaknesses. His life was one of extremes, but somehow, ever the street fighter, he has survived to tell the tale,” he added.
Maradona, 55, is a retired Argentine professional footballer. He has served as a manager and coach at several clubs as well as the national team of Argentina. Many football experts and fans regard him as the greatest football player of all time. He was joint FIFA Player of the 20th Century with the Brazilian legend Pelé.
