Shane Warne and his children in the documentary,Shane.
So did the documentaryShane add much new to the picture? The answer in some ways is no,although it made a difference to have Warnie sitting there in front of you on his couch as he went through it all again:the childhood in the Melbourne suburbs,the dashed hopes of a career in AFL,the “ball of the century” bowled to Mike Gatting in the 1993 Ashes,the overnight fame,the golden years,the scandals (to a point),the comebacks and the rest,or as much as can be squeezed into 90-odd minutes.
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There are three credited directors behindShane – David Alrich,Jon Carey and Jackie Munro – but no big filmmaking ambitions on display,nor anything that seemed especially geared to the big screen,where the film got a run before its streaming release.
Naturally there are clips of Warne’s great moments on the pitch. But mainly it’s talking heads,with the man himself backed by a chorus of family members,former teammates and assorted cricketing greats (also Ed Sheeran and Coldplay’s Chris Martin,who were among his close personal friends).
Shane Warne’s early sporting years.
Two sides of Warne emerge especially strongly. First,the ruthless competitor,ever alert to his opponents’ weak spots,and a master not just of leg spin bowling but of the not unrelated art of sledging,or what Haigh (not interviewed here,alas) calls “kidology”.