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Well, Im a sport fan.
So, I have always watched everything, and I used to watch racing.
Formula One was always on.
The genius about it is that its on at lunchtime on a Sunday.
So, I remember the Senna-Prost rivalry.
I wasnt the biggest Senna fan, although I remember liking McLaren at the time.
They dont know how it ends.
Theyre talking in the past tense.
Somethings about to happen.
Why has it all slowed down?
Why are we going into such detail at Imola?
And this is in Middle America, in Mormon territory, because Sundance is in Salt Lake City.
Im a drama director and I wanted to make a drama.
My dream was always to say, Look, I dont want to make a television documentary!
But all of my material was TV footage.
Theres not a frame in there that Ive shot.
I said, I think theres something original that we can do here.
But I was saying, I dont think we need it.
I really dont think we need it.
And I cut this film, which was seven hours of archive!
Now, every minute over forty was something like 30,000 or something crazy.
So, we were like 5 million over budget!
I was accused of doing everything I could to get fired!
It was just way too long.
Theyd keep saying, Its too long.
Go away and cut.
Theres a few that I tried to squeeze into the end roll.
Ive seen so many hours of footage and in his era no one stops.
No one even wants to know about an accident.
And then hed get in the car and go even faster!
There was also one very powerful scene about Tamburello [the corner at which Senna died].
A few weeks before Imola, Senna is standing on the corner.
you might see it.
Hes not happy with the track.
And hes complaining to the guy who runs the track.
And its really a powerful scene.
But the reason we took that one out- Its a tough call.
Its a very powerful scene.
was because, at the time, nobody knew he was going to have an accident.
No one expected it.
So, what we didnt want to do was make a film which is told in hindsight.
Because its a very easy thing to do, ten, twenty years later, isnt it?
Over the years, you know.
How many tracks has he done that on?
And were just going to show you the one.
Its my favourite moment, and the most emotional bit for me, still, when I watch it.
Youve got to have Donington 93, youve got to have this, youve got to have that.
Thats what everyone knows, because everyones seen it in movies or in other documentaries.
But we had this story that we were trying to tell, and Brazil itself was a character.
Thats a VHS tape.
And its just like, it sums him up in a few seconds.
And my favourite bit is the podium.
And then he has that struggle to lift the trophy.
Hes not going to quit.
Hes not a quitter.
He doesnt give up.
That little moment on the podium almost sums him up as well.
We never really show any other cars.
Its a race against himself.
I dont want to this cars broken.
The gear box has gone.
Im in sixth gear.
People didnt believe him, famously.
They said, Its impossible.
You cant do it.
Its a manual car.
The guys not taking his hands off the wheel!
Hes driving a Formula 1 car in sixth gear!
I love the music in that section, too.
Thats one of the things that works, is Antonio Pintos music.
They talk about what he meant to Brazil.
They talk about the funeral.
But that race, people probably had never seen the footage.
Theres something about him.
He has a special aura and a presence.
People who knew him loved him.
Obviously, theres the tragic element to the story, but theres something else.
Its something magical about him.
On this film, people would call us and say, We hear youre making a film about Senna.
How can we help?
What can we give you?
Do you need anything?
I love this guy.
In fact, the fewer people we interviewed, the better, because that would make them special.
And the idea was that I almost wanted it to be invisible.
Youre not quite sure.
So, all the journalists are our interviews, Richard Williams, people like that.
Ron Dennis was a major one.
That was a long interview.
He was the one who was in a lot of the footage.
Anyone who was in the footage, I wanted to go and talk to.
That was my rule.
If theyre in the shots, I want to talk to them.
And then well find a way to have their voice, and I can show them at the time.
Its really tough interviewing people, and you realise, Im not making a drama.
This is not a fiction.
These are real people.
Two people died for real.
Its just ethically, morally, in a place that Ive never been in before.
You shoot home videos, put it away and never look at it again.
Now, I dont know why he trusted us.
We were lucky as well in having years to put everything together.
When we first spoke to Ron Dennis, he said, I dont want anything on the record.
No mics, no cameras.
We were cool with that.
I didnt want the interview for the film anyway.
So, we said fine.
So, we talked to him, and Ron is a particular guy.
He wants to get his story right.
He wants to get his facts right.
But hed get things wrong.
It wasnt that track, it was this track.
It didnt happen on that corner, it was on that corner.
Actually, no, it was so-and-so in the background!
And he was like, Alright, you know what youre talking about.
Youve done your homework.
Okay, come back, lets do it properly.
That was the most emotional screening.
It was exactly a year ago.
Wed finished the cut about this time last year.
Bruno Senna [Ayrtons nephew] was racing in F1 that year and he was living in Monaco.
So, the family were coming over for the Monaco Grand Prix.
And it was during Cannes.
And it was just unbearable.
And it was just unbearable.
But then Viviane stood up and hugged us all and just went, You got it right.
There was real animosity.
And all we wanted to do was show what was really happening at that time.
Thats why I didnt want to talk about it in hindsight.
Were all perfect mates now, arent we?
We all loved each other!
And its totally understandable you didnt.
You are two people who are the best at what you do.
You happen to be in the same team.
Youre the first rivals.
You have to do whatever it’s possible for you to psychologically to beat each other.
And Im just going to show what was going on at the time.
And my gut feeling is that that rivalry never went away.
When we interviewed Alain, he had a hell of a lot to say.
We were making it from Sennas point of view, with Senna narrating it.
And Bernie, of course.
I dont know if Bernies seen it yet.
Hes got a copy of it, but hes a busy man.
Weve put on screenings many times and he wasnt able to make it, and Prost was the same.
So, I think theres this element of Do I really want to see it?
I know what its going to be.
But I think because everyone else has seen it, he needs to see it.
But I dont know if he has.
He has a copy, but we tried to set up screenings and he was busy.
When I first came to the film, I knew about that accident in Japan.
It could have killed someone.
Theres no excusing what happened and he, basically, admits it.
But the question I found when we were putting the film together was, why would anyone do that?
Really the story for us is whats the motivation behind his action?
Hold on, what happened the year before?
He got disqualified, fined a hundred grand and called a dangerous driver.
For someone hitting him.
Get out my way.
And I dont in any way excuse it.
After hes done it, he doesnt look like hes happy.
The team are not celebrating.
As Ron Dennis says, he was embarrassed by it.
There was no huge celebration.
The team have said to us, Wed rather they had started the race again.
Wed rather race and win properly.
And its all to do with what happened the year before.
But I dont think its a good idea to go crashing into people at 160 miles an hour.
Id like to put that on record!
The interesting thing is how you see that incident around the world.
Theres one particular country where people stand up and start clapping at that particular point in the film.
And thats the US.
Yeah, I love it.
The more you know, the better it gets.
The more politics there is, the more you understand.
Sometimes the races are terribly boring, but whats going on off the track is great.
And then it makes the race much more interesting.
I think we are in a golden age.
There are four great drivers in three different teams.
So, it is exciting.
And actually the BBC coverage is amazing.
It really is good.
So, it becomes a seven hour thing.
And I can now say officially to the wife, Its work, darling.
I have to watch it.
I have to watch every second!
Asif Kapadia, thank you very much.
Read ourreview of Senna here.
