Amazon Boards ‘Varane’ Docu Series About the French Soccer Star (EXCLUSIVE)
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Rolling off “Les Bleus, the Heart of a Russian Epic,” Amazon Prime Video has come on board a premium three-part documentary about Raphael Varane, the soccer star who played a key role in winning the World Cup with the French team in 2018.
Titled “Varane, destin de champion,” the French documentary series has been ordered by Amazon Prime Video and will be available exclusively to the streaming service’s subscribers across Europe at the end of the year.
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“Varane” is produced by Federation Entertainment and Yvette Production. The two banners previously joined forces on the hit documentary “Les Bleus, the Heart of a Russian Epic.” “Varane” is also written and directed by the team behind “Les Bleus, the Heart of Russian Epic.” Théo Schuster is directing the documentary series and co-wrote it with Emmanuel Le Ber.
Amazon, which has been moving into sports and football programming, stepped into the project at early stage and has been working closely with Federation, said Isabelle Bertrand, the Amazon’s head of content acquisition. Bertrand said the documentary will aim at reaching subscribers who are not necessarily soccer fan but became interested in it after following the World Cup.
The docu delivers an intimate portrait of the soccer champion through exclusive archives; charting his rise from the first games with his team in Northern France, in Lille, all the way to his success with the French national team and with the Real Madrid. The documentary also includes interviews with his teammates, friends and coaches, including fellow world champions Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappé, Karim Benzema, Zinedine Zidane and the coach Didier Deschamps.
Schuster also spent time with Varane who shared his vision of his career, memories and talked about his family, his son and relationship with his brother who inspired him to become a professional soccer player.
“The life of a soccer player is so much more complex that what is shown during the games,” said Varane. “(This documentary) is my story and gives Amazon Prime members access to a unique vision of what made me the man and sports professional I am today,” added Varane.
Federation Entertainment handles international rights to the documentary series outside of Europe.
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