Fisher Stevens on Getting David Beckham to Talk, That Rolls-Royce Moment and Making Athletes Emotional

Mikey O'Connell
·10 min read
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Almost two weeks ago, Netflix dropped its Beckham docuseries — giving viewers perhaps the most access ever to the soccer star subject. That has less to do with the project’s four-plus-hour runtime, however, than it does with the fact that David Beckham, for all of his fame, has never been much of a talker.

“I don’t think the guy ever sat for more than 20 minutes in his life and talked about himself,” Fisher Stevens tells The Hollywood Reporter. The documentarian (The Lincoln Project, Bright Lights, Before the Flood) and actor (Succession, Asteroid City), who directed and produced the instantly popular series that still sits atop the streamer’s global Top 10, spent days with David Beckham to coax out some candor on his complicated career and personal life. The result is, yes, a documentary whose subject is also one of its producers. But it’s also as thorough a portrait as anyone’s gotten of a singular figure in sports and popular culture — and his equally famous wife.

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There is a moment from the first episode that has circulated a lot. In it, David crashes his wife, Victoria Beckham’s interview after she claims to have grown up “working class” and makes her admit that her father drove her to school in a Rolls-Royce. Did you realize how well that exchange would play with viewers at the time? 

It was our first interview with Victoria — and, honestly, I had no idea David was listening. He was supposed to be taking [his daughter] Harper to school. I guess he got back and decided that he was going to kind of listen in to the interview. I have a great cameraman, and he just knew to just go right on his face when he popped in beyond the door. I knew it was great. But at the same time, oh my God, I told him he had to leave. I’m like, “Dude, you’ve got to get out of here and let me talk to your wife. Come on.” But I was really glad we got that.

David’s not known for being a talker, which is something that’s addressed in some of the archival footage. What kind of assurances did you get that he’d be a little more open?

Well, he sold me on that. He told me, “I want to do this.” I watched a lot of interviews with him and I knew that I needed to go at it a different way, shoot it a different way and make him feel comfortable. I needed a lot of time with him. Victoria is much more facile with language and talking and feelings and emotions. David has shut most of it down, so I knew it would take time to get it out. I think he’s just at a place in his life where he’s finally ready to relive moments that he’s pushed away. British people, not to generalize, they’re not the most talky-feely about their lives and their emotions like [Americans] are.

Beckham
David Beckham in Fisher Stevens’ Beckham.

With David and his production company being involved, and knowing he didn’t have final cut, what were some of the things you disagreed on in terms of including? 

I just said, “If I’m doing this, we have to talk about your whole life. Everything, the ups and the downs.” To him, the 2003 stuff in Madrid, the tabloid stuff was really tough for him. It was also really tough for him to get into the breakup with [former Manchester United manager] Sir Alex Ferguson. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to, but he struggled. It still hurts to this day. And I didn’t include it, but I brought up the Qatar World Cup stuff. [Beckham was widely criticized by the LGBTQ community for his role as ambassador to the event, given the host nation’s human rights record.] It just didn’t feel like it fit in this movie. I brought up the knighthood, too. [Beckham is a rare British figure of his stature to not receive a knighthood.] It just didn’t seem like we needed it. If you look at this 20 years from now, who gives a shit about that stuff?

Speaking of Sir Alex, who was the hardest interview to book?

Well, I never got [former Team England manager] Glenn Hoddle. He refused. Sir Alex was not easy to get. There’s still a love for David, but he had his illness and his own documentary. When I did get him, it was a very finite period of time … supposedly. I was very nervous. And then recognized me from Succession. He was a huge fan of the show, and Brian Cox is a good friend of his. So, immediately he warmed up and gave me more time. He talked about everything.

Have you found there’s a disconnect, with the public, between your work as an actor and your work as a filmmaker? Because if you google the series, there are multiple headlines like, “You won’t believe whose voice is asking the questions in the Beckham doc …”

I know! It’s weird. I have spent a lot of my time making documentaries for going on 15 years. But no one knows you make those, right? But it helps me, too, with the subjects. If they feel like they’ve seen me or know me before, it loosens them instantly. Fortunately, a lot of these footballers had seen me or knew of me and it instantly made them comfortable with me.

I’m assuming the big thing of late has been Succession. 

The doc series I did right before this — I’m really proud of it but unfortunately don’t know how many people have seen — was on The Lincoln Project. Those guys were obsessed with Succession — which, obviously, I’m not allowed to talk about right now [because of the actors strike]. Because of that show, I felt like I got into their heads and they opened up so much faster. And those guys are political operatives! Talk about difficult subjects. They were tough.

Realizing we cannot talk about the show, I could not help but feel that the music here was reminiscent of Nick Britell’s Succession score. Is that what you were going for?

I know, it’s really weird. (Laughs.) So Michael Harte, my brilliant editor, and I put temp music in before the score. We did temp some of Nick Britell’s other stuff, but there was nothing from Succession in there. For the final score, we used a lot of other composers. I guess it did have that Succession vibe … maybe? But I was in the show, I don’t know!

The tight close-ups of the athletes getting emotional while watching old match footage were really impactful. How did you get those shots? 

It really started with David. I thought, you rarely see him head-on. I wanted a way to get deep into him, vulnerability-wise. On a lot of these shows, you show the athlete the footage on the iPad — and they’re looking down at it. Fuck that. Let’s put the iPad in the mirror, behind the [ring light], and experience that moment with them. We really got to see inside their heads. I would love to put a short film together of all of them, because there are some beautiful ones that I didn’t use. Then this great graphic designer, Anthony Rhodes, he superimposed what they were watching over their faces in some shots. It was beautiful just to see them take in what they’re seeing.

Beckham
An archival image of David and Victoria Beckham in the late 1990s.

This man has been a global cultural behemoth for going on three decades. Almost everybody has varying degrees of awareness about his life. So what did you learn here that you didn’t expect?

The big arc was the red card [during the 1998 World Cup] and how horribly he and his wife were treated in the aftermath. I couldn’t believe the abuse they took. It was something that David had explained to me when he told me he wanted to do this because I had no idea. I can’t believe the abuse he took everywhere he went — even in Los Angeles. But he always turns it around. And to me, that’s so admirable. I don’t know, many human beings are not capable to do what David did.

The other thing about him that I found fascinating was his compulsive behavior with everything. It’s why he does everything 100 percent. He won’t do it unless he knows he can tackle it. Whether it’s beekeeping, being an incredible chef or, obviously, he’s obsessed with cleanliness and cleaning and order. I had to really convince him to let me film some of that stuff. He didn’t want me to.

Have you been at all inspired to reorganize your closet?

Sadly, no. Lexi, my partner, she’s like, “Did you not learn anything from that marriage? Can you please just put a little of that into your life?” I’ve been a little better since working with David, but I have a long way to go.

This is not your first personality-driven doc. You also made Bright Lights with Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, just before their deaths. Is there someone else who interests you enough to invest this much of your time?

He would never hire me, but I’m fascinated by LeBron James because of his longevity, his political contributions. I love the mixture. David was an athlete and also a cultural icon. And LeBron does so much. I’m fascinated by people who are multifaceted. Even when I do the environmental stuff we don’t want to hear about, I try to focus on humans. I would like to figure out another environmental film, because, obviously we’re a code red.

I could have watched another hour of this, but I do often wonder why some doc series aren’t just features because of the economics of streaming — the desire for more hours viewed. Do you have a take on feature versus doc series at this moment? 

I’m producing a feature doc now, and it’s clearly a movie. It’s about the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club in New Orleans. It’s the first Black men’s club to parade during Mardi Gras. That is clearly a movie. Some things just need more time to tell the story. That’s the beauty of streaming. But, yeah, I agree that half of the things I see, I’m like, “Why isn’t it a movie or just two episodes?” Beckham started out as three, then we went to four. And they’re long, so we could have probably made them shorter and in five. Netflix was like, “Let’s just keep it like this.” If they still want more, that’s good. Keep them wanting more.

Talks between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP fell apart again just before we spoke. As a rather prolific actor, what’s your take on where we are in the strike right now? 

I was so bummed. I thought when the writers settled that it would close quickly. Listen, I know the issues — but I’m not that well-informed. I read what the studios are saying, how it’ll be untenable if they had to pay us so much in residuals. We have to find a middle ground. The world is changing so quickly, so it’s good we’re dealing with this now. But IATSE is going to have to go to the table soon because we can’t keep striking. We can’t keep shutting down. I’m lucky that I have another job, that I can keep working in that field. But for some of my friends, makeup artists and actors, it’s a nightmare. We have to settle soon.

Interview edited for length and clarity. Beckham is currently streaming on Netflix.

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