David Beckham says filming ‘difficult’ documentary made him feel ‘uncomfortable’
David Beckham has said creating his hit documentary series made him feel “uncomfortable”, as he was forced to discuss “things I’d never spoken about before”.
The football star spoke about the process of making Beckham, which was released on Netflix last year, at the Royal Television Society’s annual conference.
When asked by session presenter Jane Featherstone how he could make an “authentic documentary” about himself with his own Studio 99 firm, he said he worked with a team and a director he knew would push him.
The documentary series delved into Beckham’s life and career
The 49-year-old said it took him a “long time” to say yes to making the series – but once decided, he wanted it to be helmed by someone who would come at it “from a different angle” to the story people may think they know.
“It was really difficult,” Beckham said, of being interviewed for about 50 hours by director Fisher Stevens. “It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I was going to make it… when I retired, I wasn’t ready to talk about my career and talk about what had happened over that time.”
But as he approached the 10-year anniversary of his 2013 retirement from football, he thought: “Maybe this is the right time.”
Beckham said both he and his wife, Victoria, were “nervous” about the idea. “Because as much as people think they know everything about us, [they] don’t really. We don’t really let kind of those doors open to our house… I’m not going to lie, I hated probably almost every moment…”
Beckham said his former Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, encouraged him not to read headlines at the time
As the audience laughed, the former England and Manchester United star clarified: “I wouldn’t say I hated it. I would just say it was very difficult…
“I’ll go back and say it wasn’t hate, but it was really difficult because there were moments when I was talking about things that I’d never spoken about before.
“This was a time when I was playing in my career and there wasn’t social media. Everything that was said about me, I knew what was being said – but the boss would turn round to me, Sir Alex Ferguson, and say, ‘don’t read the papers today. Do yourself a favour, don’t read the papers, go out there and play’. And that’s really all that I kind of saw.”
Beckham said he did not want to see what was in the series until it was finished. “I didn’t go into the edit. I didn’t see any cuts. I saw the odd clip, but I didn’t see anything. And I just let Fisher have that control.”
Praising Stevens, he said: “Finding the right director took a while… But then when I met Fisher, I was like, okay – this is the man that is going to make me feel really uncomfortable. And I think I had to feel uncomfortable to make the documentary that we made…
“Fisher made me feel uncomfortable from the moment we sat down to talk, to the moment I finished. And I really needed that because I needed a director to come at it from a different angle. Because everyone kind of knows my career and my life and things like that. So I needed someone like him to bring something different out of me.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
David Beckham speaks to Sky News at documentary premiere
Beckham said watching the series for the first time at the premiere was an “emotional” experience, but he “loved” the result. On Sunday night, the programme picked up the award for outstanding documentary series at the Emmys in the US.
The star also spoke about Victoria Beckham’s upcoming documentary series, announced earlier in the summer, which will chart her career from Spice Girl to fashion designer and beauty entrepreneur.
Asked if he would be giving her “notes” now he has his own documentary behind him, Beckham laughed and replied: “Do you know my wife?”
He continued: “I’m actually really excited about this one with Victoria because she is an amazing woman. She’s a strong, driven, passionate person that has gone from being a Spice Girl, and to be respected in this industry is very, very tough.
“She’s worked hard for the last 17, 18 years on her business and all of a sudden she’s having the success that she really deserves. And no one really sees what she does. No one really sees the amount of work she puts in.
“She’s over everything, from where people sit at the shows to what they wear to everything that goes into her business. She’s over every single piece and I want people to see that.”
The one where Ross divorces the rock star…?
David Schwimmer says he once served British singer Sir Rod Stewart with divorce papers, while the actor was working in a summer job as a teenager.
The Friends star recalled a brief time as a process server – someone employed to formally serve documents to parties in a legal case – while in his first year of university and how it led to the odd encounter with Sir Rod.
Speaking on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Schwimmer said: “One summer after my freshman year in college, I was just looking for work and my mum said you can be a process server for me.
“My mum was a divorce lawyer, and so I was the guy who would pop out of the bushes and serve you divorce papers.”
The 58-year-old actor, best known for playing ‘three-divorces Ross’ in the long-running sitcom, said he felt like James Bond during the job at age 18.
“Because you get a tip, you’re tipped off as to where they might be,” he said.
“Thank goodness I’ve never run into him since – but I served Rod Stewart.
“I don’t even know if he knows. I don’t think he knows.”
“He knows now,” Colbert joked in reply.
Read more:
Rod Stewart to play Glastonbury’s legend slot
Rod Stewart defends support for Ukraine
Schwimmer did not specify which divorce it was for, but the British star split from his first wife Alana Stewart in 1984, when the actor would have been around 18.
Rod Stewart with his wife Alana and their children at Heathrow Airport in 1983. Pic: PA
The veteran rocker married his current wife, Penny Lancaster, in 2007.
Schwimmer, who was born in New York City but grew up partly in Los Angeles, didn’t get his first proper acting role until 1989, according to IMDB, in TV movie A Deadly Silence, and went on to appear in Friends from 1994.
Stars including Beyonce, Eva Longoria and Jamie Lee Curtis have pledged funds to support families affected by the fires in Los Angeles – along with Paris Hilton, who is among those who have lost their homes.
The blazes which erupted in the Pacific Palisades and other areas of the county last week have destroyed thousands of properties and killed at least 24 people.
US reality star and businesswoman Hilton has launched an emergency fund to support families who have been displaced, and kickstarted it with a personal donation of $100,000 dollars (£82,000).
The 43-year-old, who watched her home in Malibu “burn to the ground” as the fires were covered on TV, has also been spending time with animal organisations. She announced on social media that she is fostering a dog whose owners lost their home.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Paris Hilton posts video of destroyed home
“While I’ve lost my Malibu home, my thoughts are with the countless families who have lost so much more – their homes, cherished keepsakes, the communities they loved, and their sense of stability,” Hilton said in a statement on social media.
Beyonce contributed $2.5m to a newly launched LA Fire Relief Fund, created by her charitable foundation, BeyGOOD.
“The fund is earmarked to aid families in the Altadena/Pasadena area who lost their homes, and to churches and community centres to address the immediate needs of those affected by the wildfires,” the organisation said in a statement.
Pic: AP/Noah Berger
Beyonce’s mother Tina Knowles lost her bungalow in Malibu in the fires.
“It was my favourite place, my sanctuary, my sacred happy place,” she wrote on Instagram. “Now it is gone. God Bless all the brave men and women in our fire department who risked their lives in dangerous conditions.”
Other celebrities who have donated funds include Desperate Housewives star Longoria and her foundation, the Screen Actors Guild, the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, and Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her family – who have all pledged $1m (£819,000) each.
Prince Harry and Meghan are believed to have donated clothing, children’s items and other essential supplies, and were seen making a surprise visit to hand out food to evacuees in Pasadena.
Read more:
Oscar nominations and other events delayed or cancelled
The winds that fuelled fires are back – here’s what it could mean
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan supported residents in Pasadena
Actors Mel Gibson, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, Billy Crystal, Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg are also among the Hollywood stars confirmed to have lost homes, along with talk show host Ricki Lake, and reality stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ricki Lake shared on Instagram the moment flames got to her property in Malibu
The fires, which are burning around Los Angeles, come at the start of Hollywood’s awards season.
Organisers of the Oscars have postponed the nominations announcement twice, with the shortlists currently set to be revealed on 23 January, and the event’s annual luncheon ahead of the ceremony has been cancelled.
The show itself is still set to go ahead on 2 March. The Grammys, scheduled for 2 February, is also reportedly still set to go ahead.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway