Sir Sam Mendes on new doc, Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes, The Times, by Mike Atherton. “Mendes... is very proud of Phoenix from the Ashes — if also quick to deflect praise to the directors Chris Grubb and Luke Mellows. “I think they’ve done it brilliantly, weaving together hundreds of hours of footage and moving back and forth in time without losing the narrative and keeping it coherent,” Mendes says. “They were in New Zealand, sitting there in the living room with Ben and his dad the last time the pair were with each other. The Cockermouth footage, when Ben bumps into a contemporary who he’d had a fight with growing up. The gentleness of the interviews with his wife and Joe [Root] who chokes up and finds it difficult to discuss the conversations they have had. “It’s really moving, seeing the love for him. That’s very unusual, especially with sporting people who are used to putting their best foot forward on the field but can be private off it. But he wants them to talk, so they talk. Mike calls the film “a remarkable documentary” Available now on @PrimeVideoSport #MakeItHappen