Gilles Villeneuve! A friend of the late great Formula 1 driver is a friend of mine! Thus the chance to interview Torquil Jones, director of VILLENEUVE PIRONI, was a slam dunk for me, and here is the result of our chat.
Yes, it was more a chat than a Q&A session, talking about my man Gilles. Yes he was my man as a teenage F1 fan, he was my hero, who was killed in 1982 when I was 21 and Torquil was probably not born yet (didn't get his age!)
The documentary blurb says: "Villeneuve Pironi tells the astonishing story of Canadian Formula 1 legend Gilles Villeneuve and French star Didier Pironi, two fearless Ferrari drivers, forever torn apart by a historic and hugely controversial moment in time."
To kick start the discussion, ahead of the 18 March release on Sky and NBC Universal, I asked Jones to start with the best question he had been asked during his media interview campaign to promote the show.
He replied: "I guess the question is, you set out make you set out to make a film, and then I always find on the projects that I work on, it's very near the end of the project, or even after you finish that you go, Oh, actually, that's what the film was about.
"I thought it was going to be about this but actually, it's about something completely different. And I think with Villeneuve Pironi I was really drawn to it. For the reason that it was just an incredible story. It has incredible chronology of events that happened.
"If you managed to get both families to agree to be on board, and you simply laid out what this story is, it's got highs and lows, it's got twists and turns. It's incredible, as a straightforward story, but I think what it actually came to represent, for me was really, it was a story about passion.
"Here was a story about two immensely talented drivers who had this passion that basically dominated their lives, their passion was racing, and it took all their focus. And what the story I think has become is, it's really what it's like to live, like on the fringes of that."
The Villeneuve Pironi story is about the aftermath for the families, the wives, the girlfriends, and the children
"So for the, for the wives, for the girlfriends, for the children, for the family, how you live your life, being on the fringes of someone else, someone else's genius, someone else's passion. What the story is really about for me is during the careers of Villeneuve Pironi the families live this very intense life, where they're in the glow of these incredible racing drivers who are famous, they're rich, they're global stars, they're incredibly gifted.
"And life is like a whirlwind. It's very, very fast-paced, it's very intense. But then, when tragedy strikes, and particularly, you know, with Formula 1 of that era, you know, tragedy struck a lot.
"The story is really about how the families and the wives and the girlfriends and the children, how they react to that and how they have to live with the emptiness of not having a husband, not having a father, and the kind of long term emotional scars that come with being with people where that singular passion really overtakes everything.
"That's why I hope, audiences will watch the film, not just Formula 1 fans, because I think you can kind of go into those bigger themes. You can kind of connect them to any walks of life, really."
Did you achieve what you set out to do with the documentary? That was the follow-up, to which Jones replied: "I hope so. I think the film starts as a story about Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi.
"But then, by the end of the third act, it really becomes a story about the Villeneuve family and the Pironi family. I hope that's what the viewer takes away that it's a much bigger story than just that of two racing drivers."
Did you speak to Jochen Mass?
I informed Torquil that I had yet to see the film as it is yet to be released publically, and asked what for me was an obvious question: Did you speak to Jochen Mass?
For those who do not know, Mass was a driver who, on that fateful qualifying day at Zolder day - Saturday, 8 May 1982 - driving his car on the racing line slowly when Gilles' Ferrari appeared at full speed, jinxed right but not far enough, the Ferrari clipped the March, disintegrating as it was catapulted at high speed into lethal catch fences, its occupant flung out of the wreck, to his death. Miraculously Mass survived.
Torquil considered talking to Mass for the movie, but opted not to: "I definitely had conversations with our team about interviewing Jochen, I just felt if we were doing a biopic then 100% Because you really want to delve into that moment.
"But it really felt like in terms of our story, which was about the relationship between Villeneuve and Pironi and we asked is it for us? It was about the build-up to that moment and then it was the aftermath that we delve into. You could spend half an hour talking about the intricacies of what happened."
We went on to discuss Jacques Villeneuve, who we both admire for his amazing achievements, which no doubt make his father Gilles smile up there in motorsport heaven, and on this site we often use Jacques quotes about F1 on this site for his no-BS views on the sport he excelled in as F1 world champion, Indycar Champion and Indy 500 winner.
We both agreed that Netflix hit series Drive to Survive has been a huge boost for the sport, we are both fans and agreed that the dramatisation is okay as we already know the reality, the outcome of those races covered, thus to show the drama and inject effects to keep audiences engaged a year later as a summary of a season, is fine.
Drive to Survive has generated a boom in F1 interest that serves VILLENEUVE PIRONI well
Jones said: "I love Drive to Survive, I think if you view it in a certain way, you acknowledge the reason it's been edited in this way, the reason it's been shot in this way, the reason there's music of this style, there's a reason that the sound effects are like they are, I like everything about it you know.
"As long as you've come to it, knowing that everything has been heightened for effects. I think it's really, really well done. I think it's really enjoyable and you feel you've been there.
"What you find is when you look into the past, like going back 40 years to build, you know, the fabric of the sport is still the same. You still got the top naught point, naught, naught, naught percent of the most competitive people on the planet, incredibly gifted, incredibly courageous.
"You still have the same dynamics within, you know, say within the Ferrari team, although the drivers [Leclerc Sainz] are teammates, they both think they're number one, they both want to beat their teammate more than anything else.
"And then it's all about how good is the driver? How good is the car, how that team is managed, the politics within the team and the politics between the team, none of that's changed."
Indeed, VILLENEUVE PIRONI was the ultimate duel between teammates, between friends and at the same time rivals eager to eke advantage over the guy in the sister car. The ultimate tribute to the old adage: to win in F1, you first have to beat your teammate. You could add: the more comprehensively, the better.
It's rivalry. It’s teammates. It’s friendships. It’s betrayal. It’s loyalty
Having not seen the show yet, and with not enough knowledge of video tech and also limited time, an interview with That Shelf - which deserves a read - reveals special treatment of the doccie theme by Torquil and his team.
He explained to them: “I was always very keen not to shoot in a very straightforward way because there’s a lot of documentaries at the moment that shoot reconstructions in the same way.
We used a number of different techniques, like specialized filters on the front of the camera that re-refract the light where it feels like parts are in focus, but parts are out of focus. It was really to give that dreamlike, abstract sense of being there at the time and being inside the mind. We just wanted the viewer to feel as immersed in the story as possible.”
He also elaborated on the multi-faceted influence Drive to Survive has had (and has) on the project: "I think our timing has just been really fortunate. The fact that there is a much bigger audience for F1 now, particularly in North America, means that hopefully, we can ride the crest of this wave that’s been built via that Netflix audience.
"I’ve watched all three series. I think it’s great. I think the reason it works and why the popularity of this sport has increased off the back of it is because it’s personality driven. It’s being driven by the drivers and the sporting directors of the team.
"It's rivalry. It’s teammates. It’s friendships. It’s betrayal. It’s loyalty. It’s all of those things that really appeal to us about the Villeneuve Pironi story as well. I think that’s why the audience has grown massively because they’re not seeing it as 20 cars. They’re seeing it as 20 individual characters going up against each other."
To make the film Torquil interviewed the likes of Pietro Corradini, Bernie Ecclestone, Mauro Forghieri, Marco Piccinini, Didier Pironi, Alain Prost, Nigel Roebuck, Jody Scheckter, Jackie Stewart, Eleonora Vallone, Brenda Vernor, Jacques Villeneuve, Joann Villeneuve, and Mélanie Villeneuve.
Quick-fire Q&A with Torquil on modern F1 drivers
As our chat drew to an end, inevitably current F1 entered the discussion, both of us enthused by what we saw at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix no matter the Red Bull demolished everyone we still look forward to an intriguing year ahead, at which point we switched to quickfire F driver questions:
PV: Max Verstappen?
Torquil: Ultimate competitor.- PV{ Lewis Hamilton?
Torquil: Class act. - PV: Charles Leclerc?
Torquil: Just beautiful. - PV: Geroge Russell?
Torquil: Pure style. - PV: Carlos Sainz?
Torquil: Power. - PV: Fernando Alonso?
Torquil: Villain. (Said with a smile)
Which triggered the obvious question: Which of today's F1 drivers most resembles Gilles?
Without hesitation, Torquil replied: "Fernando Alonso. A couple of people said so when I interviewed them for the film. They said he was the only driver of the last 20 years that is anything like Gilles. That idea of being in 12th place fighting for 11th but you're still going to race the wheels off the car to get that one position.
"Doesn't matter. The points don't matter where we are. Which is Alonso. Yeah. I'm faster than you and nothing else matters. Yeah, Fernando." I agreed.
In closing, I personally look forward to watching VILLENEUVE PIRONI, as any further info to add to my already vast mental archive on Gilles is always cherished, a race driver and a man I greatly admired while I was growing up during that dreadful yet beautiful era of F1.
It's an awesome fable, one of many fabulous forgotten stories my generation of motorsport fans lived. Re-telling it in this modern and effective manner gives it the exposure and respect it deserves. Reigniting memories of our heroes, bringing them back to life in a way.
We parted with Torquil asking what retro hero I would do a documentary about if I could. For me, it would be Peter Revson or Mark Donohue right now, two almost forgotten American heroes of F1 whose lives were cut short doing what they loved. And there's also Tom Pryce. Ronnie Peterson. Elio de Angelis. Francois Cevert. David Purley. Jules Bianchi. Too many.
Thus, I look forward not only to VILLENEUVE PIRONI but also to other legends of F1 Torquil will shine a light on in the future. I suspect his journey of discovery through our sport is just beginning and there is more to come. At least I hope so.
Torquil Jones according to IMDB:
Jones (above right) is a multi-award-winning director and producer whose credits include Netflix's global hit documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible (Primetime Emmy and Grierson nominated), Villeneuve Pironi (Sky/NBC Universal), Bobby Robson: More Than A Manager (Netflix, 2 x Sports Journalism Awards winner), and Channel 4's Adam Hills: Take His Legs (SJA winner).
Jones has produced the Grierson-nominated Finding Jack Charlton (BBC/Virgin Media Ireland), Arsène Wenger: Invincible (Amazon/Canal+, Venice TV awards winner), and The Edge (BBC/Amazon), and he is also a co-Founder of Noah Media Group - a film production, distribution, and technology company based in London.
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