{ "id": "100082", "author": "26", "cnmid": "0", "title": "Oscar-Winning Director To Release Documentary On English Captain Ben Stokes", "lang": "en", "series": "1", "cup_year": "2022", "article_type": "General", "excerpt": "Ben Stokes, announced as Joe Root's successor as England Test captain last month, will star in Prime Video's \"Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes\".", "subtype": null, "editor1": "

Ben Stokes is the subject of a new documentary created with Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes focusing on the peaks and troughs of his action-packed cricket career.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The all-rounder, announced as Joe Root's successor as England Test captain last month will star in Prime Video's "Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes".<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The 30-year-old will talk about his man-of-the-match performance in the 2019 World Cup final and his stunning century the following month to secure a remarkable one-wicket victory over Australia in an Ashes Test at Headingley.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The film will also delve into Stokes's life off the field, including his battles with mental health issues and a late-night fracas outside a nightclub in 2017 that threatened his career before he was cleared of a charge of affray.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Stokes said the aim of the documentary was to show another side to his character.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

"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," he said Thursday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

"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."<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Mendes, a successful schoolboy and club cricketer, 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."<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The 56-year-old Englishman, who won a best director Oscar for his 1999 debut movie "American Beauty", added: "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."<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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The dizzying highs
\r\nThe crushing lows
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\r\nEngland’s talismanic Test captain as you've never seen him before...
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\r\nBen Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes, coming to Prime Video later this year pic.twitter.com\/gVEITikXW9<\/a><\/p>\r\n— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) May 19, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>\r\n