Simon Verhoeven discusses the complications encountered in the making of the Bayern Munich documentary

Documenting one of the biggest clubs in world football is not an easy job. It needs to be done with great care and responsibility. Simon Verhoeven, the director of Amazon Prime’s “FC Bayern: Behind the Legends”, shared the complexities of following Bayern Munich throughout a season to help capture their story.

From the beginning, Verhoeven was aware of the need to build a good relationship with the club personnel. He told Sport1, “I knew that if we showed up there with four, five people, we would only be allowed to take distant shots. That’s exactly what I didn’t want, so I made the suggestion: only one person comes into the dressing room and the half-time break at a time, and that’s my cameraman and co-director Nepomuk Fischer. He did a fantastic job.”

With all the drama at the club surrounding Hansi Flick’s departure last season, there might have been a lot of moments when they were asked to put caps on the lenses. He commented:

“We had to try to build up a relationship of trust so as not to be faced with closed doors. Of course, there were days when the doors really closed. You don’t need to discuss that anymore. It was important for us to capture moments in which something is also expressed in a quieter way. For example, between Salihamidzic and Flick. When the two were silent, super tense, without the slightest sound. That can say more than any verbal argument.”

“I particularly remember a speech during the half-time break that was sharply directed against another team. We discussed that and cut it down a bit afterward. In the meantime, I can understand what the headlines would have been. Everything is taken out of context these days. But I see it very positively. It’s amazing how unfiltered this series was released by FC Bayern,” added Verhoeven.

Verhoeven and crew seem to have done a good job earning the front office’s trust and they made sure not to burn any bridges. To actually know how much Brazzo-Flick content we have, the fans outside of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria might have to wait a bit longer.