Unlike Senna and Amy Winehouse, Maradona's struggles are internal

Indian-origin British filmmaker Asif Kapadia says he didn't want to make another documentary after his BAFTA-winning "Senna" on late Brazilian motor-racing champion Ayrton Senna.

The director, whose "Diego Maradona" on the legendary Argentinian footballer released Friday, said it is "accidental" that he ended up doing a trilogy of sorts on child geniuses, second being "Amy on the late British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse.

"When I did 'Senna' in 2010, it was a one off. I've been making feature films previously, so 'Senna' was like sport and a good opportunity coming along so I thought it'd be nice to do something different.

"It was a challenge in a way to come up with a new way of telling the story. That's what I thought was interesting about it, this idea of not having interviews and making it a documentary but in the style of a feature film. It was a big hit. It did really well everywhere. And then I thought, 'Okay, that's it. I'm never going to make another one', Kapadia told PTI in an interview.

Then "Amy" happened, which earned him an Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2016, along with best documentary BAFTA and Grammy for best music film.

London-based Kapadia said the documentary on Winehouse, who died at age 27 due to alcohol poisoning, was like telling the story of somebody that could have lived on his street in Camden, where he lived for 10 years.

"I didn't want to do another sport film. I got offered a lot and I said no to them all including 'Maradona' after 'Senna'. Then 'Amy' comes along. I'm from North London, that became more personal as a film about where I'm from."
"In the film, I deal with a section of his life when he was playing in Italy, which for me is the most important part of his life which forms him, where he becomes the best player in the world, where he becomes this kind of iconic figure, but it's also where all of his personal problems begin."
"As the guy is still alive you would assume he and his people would want to see the film, but it's the opposite. And that's classic Diego Maradona, he will always do the opposite of everything you expect."