Project Detail

McEnroe

Synopsis

A supernova in the world of tennis, as awe-inspiring as he could be explosive, John McEnroe’s combined 155 championship titles still ranks as the highest achievement in the Men’s Open era. But as Barney Douglas’s film shows, this is just one facet of the sport legend’s storied life. MCENROE features previously unseen footage, both from his games and his personal archive. It explores the demons that drove him, while colleagues and friends such as Billie Jean King, Bjorn Borg and Keith Richards, along with McEnroe’s wife Patty Smyth and their children, offer an intimate portrait of a singular, incendiary individual.
Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2022 - World premiere
Official Selection Sheffield DocFest 2022 - People & Communities - International premiere

Details

Year
2022
Type of film
Features
Running time
104 min
Director
Barney Douglas
Producer
Victoria Barrell
Editor
Steve Williams
Screenwriter
Barney Douglas
Director of Photography
Lucas Tucknott
Sound
Felix White
Principal cast
John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Billie Jean King

Genre

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Sylver Entertainment

Sales Company

Universal Pictures Content Group

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Freeing Flipper [working title] Freeing Flipper [working title]

Director: Barney Douglas

Year: 2026

The extraordinary story of Richard “Ric” O’Barry, once the world’s highest-paid dolphin trainer, now their most passionate defender, risking his life and liberty to free these remarkable creatures from captivity. In the 1960s, Ric was America’s leading dolphin trainer at the Miami Seaquarium and the celebrated trainer behind the hit TV series Flipper, whose smiling stars enchanted a generation. Everything changed after the apparent suicide of one of the show’s dolphins, Kathie - a moment that shattered his beliefs and set him on a radical path from insider to activist. For over 50 years, Ric has led a global campaign against dolphin captivity. As founder of Dolphin Project, he has risked arrest, injury, and personal loss to rescue dolphins and expose the industry’s darkest secrets. Both celebrated and criticised, he remains steadfast that every captive dolphin can be returned to the wild. Told through intimate family access, joyous underwater imagery, and covert filming, Ric’s mission has transformed a non-issue into a global movement. Now 85, he must ask: after a lifetime spent freeing others, can he finally set himself free?

McEnroe McEnroe

Director: Barney Douglas

Year: 2022

"McEnroe" is an intimate portrait of one of the most explosive and compelling sporting icons of all time. Number One in the world in four consecutive years, John's epic battles with Bjorn Borg helped define the golden era of tennis, yet huge controversy on and off the court betrayed an inner conflict. Set over one New York night, John journeys into memory to explore why a need for connection both drove him and nearly broke him. "McEnroe" features completely unseen archive from some of the biggest matches in tennis history - including the US Open and Wimbledon - as well as home video footage from John himself. Contributions from John's children and his wife Patty Smyth provide a level of intimacy that takes the film beyond a sports biopic and into the realms of something deeply confessional. Compassionate and heartfelt, featuring icons such as Billie Jean King, Bjorn Borg and Keith Richards, MCENROE is the definitive portrait of a force of nature powered by the beating heart of New York. Official Selection Tribeca Film Festival 2022 - World premiere Official Selection Sheffield DocFest 2022 - People & Communities - International premiere

Spacewoman Spacewoman

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all. At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere