Director Max Mannix and producer Nick Wood speak about using dramatisations and appealing to a non-sport audience

Temuera Morrison (2) stars as Eddie Jones in The Brighton Miracle. Photo Credit The Brighton Miracle

Director Max Mannix and producer Nick Wood join this edition of the Broadcast Sport Podcast, to speak about their latest film, The Brighton Miracle.

A mix of interviews, archive footage, and dramatisations, The Brighton Miracle was produced by Syn Entertainment via producer representative Summer & Co. The 82-minute feature documentary tells the story of how Japan, the team with the worst record in Rugby World Cup history at the time, unexpectedly defeated South Africa, the two-time World champions, at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in Brighton.

The storyline follows Eddie Jones, played in re-enactments by New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison (The Book of Boba Fett), the Australian-Japanese coach selected to train the Japanese rugby team despite huge doubts from the team. The film follows Jones’ plans to defy convention in order to put a stop to Japan being the laughingstock of world rugby, and his relentless techniques that push everybody to the brink of despair, including staff, assistant coaches and team manager, JR, played by Masa Yamaguchi (The Condemned). This is mixed with real archive footage and talking head interviews. 

Blue Sky Media picked up the distribution rights to the film outside of Japan earlier this year, and it is now available to buy.

Mannix and Wood spoke to Broadcast Sport about how they made the film, getting the likes of Eddie Jones and the players on board, their use of dramatisations, and how to appeal to non-sport audiences.

You can listen to this episode and all other episodes of the Broadcast Sport Podcast below.