A documentary exploring the life of new England Test captain Ben Stokes is set to be released on Amazon Prime later this year.
Stokes confirmed back in February that the documentary, entitled Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes, was being filmed, tweeting : "Yes I've been filming a documentary….you can watch it and see how s*** has been for me (pretty interesting tbh)…..orrrrrrr you don't have to watch it,so please stop having your opinion before you know what I've gone in to in the doc…..I've had a blast doing it so far."
The documentary will see Stokes open up about his off-field struggles, including the 2017 incident in Bristol that saw him charged with and later cleared of assault, the tragic death of his father Ged after a battle with brain cancer and his break from the sport to prioritise his mental health.
"I never thought that I would feel like I do now," Stokes says in an interview conducted during his break that is featured in the documentary's trailer. "My anxiety has gone through the roof. You are sat on the toilet in your hotel room and you are having a massive panic attack."
Several of his England teammates, including Joe Root, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, and Jos Buttler, as well as the late great Shane Warne and Stokes' agent Neil Fairbrother have been interviewed for the documentary. "I could have seen him never playing again," Broad said of Stokes' mental health break, while former Windies bowler Ian Bishop suggested the experience "would have broken lesser mortals".
The documentary also features an intimate interview with Ged conducted during Stokes' final visit to see him in New Zealand before his passing. In the trailer, Ged says his illness " you just don't know whether you are going to be the same person when you wake up the next day".
The film will showcase Stokes' greatest on-field successes, particularly the two outstanding match winning displays he produced during the summer of 2019. First, he scored 84 in the Cricket World Cup final to lead England to a dramatic win over New Zealand in a super over, before playing one of the greatest innings of all-time when he almost single-handedly won the third Ashes Test at Headingley with a stunning 135 not out.
"One thing I want to try and do with this is to get a side across to people that is quite tough to do in the image that we give across on TV," Stokes said. "Certain aspects in the media you have to do in a certain way, to come across in a certain way, to please a certain amount of people whereas for this I don't feel like I'm having to do that.
"I still think it's crazy sat here that there's a documentary being done about me. And then on top of that having Sam come and do the interviews.
"The whole thing is a crazy experience still for me to think about." Oscar winning director and cricket fan Sam Mendes served as an executive producer on the documentary and conducted the interviews.
"When they asked me to be involved in this excellent documentary, it took me about ten seconds to say yes," Mendes said. "There are a lot of mysteries surrounding Ben Stokes, and a lot of questions I wanted to ask.
"To my amazement, he answered them all. I was always a fan of Ben as a cricketer - how can you not be, if you are a lover of sport at the highest level - but now my admiration extends well beyond the boundaries of cricket."
