Apple TV+'s 10-part docuseries on the Patriots, "The Dynasty," is produced by Imagine Entertainment’s Ron Howard and Brian Grazer -- whose relationship with Patriots owner Robert Kraft was vital in ensuring the filmmakers had access to the entire rolodex of key figures involved with the team and the green light to prod into sensitive topics, such as "Spygate" and the murder conviction of former Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez.
Grazer, an Oscar winner with more than 200 executive producer credits to his name, told SBJ that he has never been much of a football fan and instead developed a friendship with Kraft in the early 2010s after the two continued bumping into each other at social events. After attending a Patriots game for the first time and reading Jeff Benedict’s 2020 book of the same name, Grazer pitched Kraft on the idea for a docuseries.
With Kraft on board, Grazer and his team won access to essentially everyone -- more than 60 players, executives and other key people are interviewed in the series -- as they sought to lift the veil on a franchise that was largely shrouded in secrecy during its run with coach Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady at the helm. Kraft did not have any editorial control over the project.
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Grazer said, "They were OK with the good, bad and the ugly. Kraft said, 'Listen, we're just looking to do the truth.' ... (That mindset) didn’t happen immediately, but it did eventually happen. And at that point, the doors opened up."
Grazer: "We didn't want to have an opinion over the lens of what we were doing. We don't want to be the filmmakers that are having an opinion -- whether that means being cynical or being overly optimistic. We just wanted to get the spectator, the viewer in the huddle and let them make their own decisions about how they feel about some of the things this team went through."
