The Day We Interviewed a Legend: Ronaldinho. No Time. No Shared Language.

Behind-the-scenes with soccer legend Ronaldinho

A couple of days ago, we found ourselves in the heart of one of a daunting challenge - interviewing Ronaldinho, the Brazilian football legend. A language barrier, time crunch, and the weight of capturing the essence of an icon.

You’d think it was the perfect recipe for disaster, right?

Surprisingly, not.

As you may know, Ronaldinho is not just an iconic footballer, but also a cultural symbol. His unique blend of joy, skill, and flair on the football pitch has captivated millions worldwide.

We had the opportunity to interview him for the upcoming Britto Documentary. However, he preferred to speak in Portuguese and nobody on our crew speaks that language.

Now, of course, you could just use an app or hire a local translator, but that would be reducing the art of interviewing down to simply saying the questions - and the questions are such a small part of getting strong interviews.

To make the interview with Ronaldinho a strong one, we adopted an approach that initially might have seemed counterintuitive.

We chose to have our interview conducted by Marilia, our producer from Brazil, over Facetime. This decision was grounded in what we call *the Golden Rule of Interviews, the guiding principle that states: “It’s a conversation, not a performance.“*

As filmmakers, we must create environments of trust and understanding where our subjects can share their genuine experiences and emotions.

Why?

Cause if you don’t, you’ll get what everybody else got. Or what can be made with AI in seconds. You won’t give yourself the chance to really say something with your film.

Marilia, being Brazilian herself, speaking Ronaldinho’s native language, and knowing his journey, was the perfect choice to foster this connection. Despite the virtual medium, this setup allowed us to facilitate an interview that felt more like an intimate, heart-to-heart conversation, rather than a staged performance.

3 Tips for creating stronger conversations in your interviews.

01. Forget Performance, Foster a Conversation: We approached Ronaldinho not with a list of rehearsed questions but with genuine curiosity. The trick is not to consider it an interview, but an honest chat over coffee.

02. Human Connection is Key: We took our time to build rapport, create a safe space, and foster trust. Remember, it’s not about making them perform for the camera but helping them be themselves in front of it.

03. Embrace the Observer Effect: As filmmakers, we use lights, cameras, and mics to do our interviews. This act of ‘observation’ will change people - it’s a law of physics. Our job is to guide that change toward authenticity, revealing Ronaldinho’s raw, real, and passionate self.

In practice, the theory of transforming a performance into a candid dialogue worked beautifully. It might have sounded unconventional, but it was vital to eliciting authentic, vulnerable, and honest responses.

The dynamic shifted from a structured interview to a relaxed chat between friends over coffee. This shift resulted in a passionate interview that revealed an authentic narrative.

Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes insights as we bring The Britto Doc to life.

• Patrick