'Amy' director working on Maradona documentary

After hitting a jackpot and earning an Oscar nomination with his documentary "Amy", British filmmaker of Indian origin Asif Kapadia will now helm a feature documentary about the soccer player Diego Maradona.

Kapadia, a fan of the soccer star, is eager to bring Maradona's life alive on the silver screen. The film is titled "Maradona", reports variety.com.

Kapadia will have access to hundreds of hours of never-before-seen footage from Maradona's personal archive.

He said: "I've long been a fan of Diego Maradona. I was taken by his character, his genius, honesty, passion, humour and vulnerability. I was fascinated by his journey, wherever he went there were moments of incredible brilliance and drama."

Kapadia added, "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."

Kapadia said he wanted to make the film on Maradona even before he directed "Senna".

"I'm very excited to have this opportunity. 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.

The project will be handled internationally by Altitude Film Sales and introduced to buyers at Berlin, with US sales being handled by Cinetic Media.

The movie has the same filmmaking team behind it as "Amy" and "Senna" - Kapadia, James Gay-Rees and Chris King.

The three will be joined as producers on the film by Paul Martin, the producer of "Ronaldo". It is being fully financed by Julian Bird's Lorton Entertainment.

Altitude Film Distribution has taken British rights to the film. The company also distributed "Amy," which took 3.76 million pounds ($5.39 million), making it the highest-grossing British documentary of all time at the British box office.

Meanwhile, Kapadia has a lot to look forward to. He has been nominated in the Outstanding British Film and Documentary award category of the upcoming 69th British Academy Film Awards for "Amy", which is based on the life and death of singer Amy Winehouse.

He is also in the Oscar race in the Best Documentary Feature category.