Asif Kapadia, the director behind the film ‘Senna’, has revealed that he rejected an approach to direct a movie about seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher, because he “wasn’t a huge fan” of the German.
Kapadia did an incredible job documenting the story of three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna, who sadly died following an accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
The film won an award at the BAFTAs, following its release 13 years ago.
It took a remarkable six years to make, with Kapadia having worked tirelessly to capture the Brazilian’s complete story, before it was finally released in 2010.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
The film has done unbelievably well and is viewed by many as one of the greatest sport documentaries ever produced, with it having told the driver’s story in chronological order but interestingly without modern-day interviews and narration.
The recent Netflix documentary about Schumacher also did well but failed to reach the heights that ‘Senna’ achieved.
A lot of Schumacher’s story remains untold, due to the privacy he’s received since his tragic skiing accident in 2013.
Interviews with his wife, Corinna, were absolutely fascinating, with it being the closest anyone has really gotten to hearing about the 91-time race winner’s life since his accident.
Kapadia was actually contacted about directing the film but opted against it as he wasn’t interested and wasn’t a “huge fan” of the legendary driver.
“They did contact me. I know Jean Todt, I know quite a few people that were in Ferrari at the time,” Kapadia told Daily Star Sport.
READ: Dutch Grand Prix hit with protests
“I kind of had a little nudge from Jean Todt’s partner Michelle Yeoh. I’d done a film with her before. I did get a little message saying ‘would you be interested?’ I should be honest, I wasn’t. I, I have to be honest.
“What I like about this era is the best car drivers and the best car racing each other. What I find terribly boring is one great driver is like ‘I want a s*** team mate so I can win everything’. I don’t see the point of that, which is what I think the most boring eras of formula one are like.
“We have that right now, where you have one person with all the best tech and everything. And then even when they don’t win, they’ll switch the rules on the last lap, which was a load of bollocks…
“I wasn’t a huge fan (of Schumacher), I’ll be honest.”