04 October 2023 , 12:43
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In the first episode of the new Netflix documentary 'Beckham', Gary Neville compares David and Victoria Beckham to King Charles and the monarch's first wife Diana.
It's clear Neville isn't thrilled by the comparison, but he recognises it as apt. The Beckhams were a couple whose fame went beyond their individual fields and crossed over into a more vague concept of celebrity, and the turnout at the premiere of the documentary only serves to emphasise that.
There aren't too many footballers who would be able to attract the likes of Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour to such an event, even during their playing days. That Beckham is able to do so some 10 years after retirement, not to mention having Wintour speak in the documentary itself, demonstrates how he remains a big draw even now.
Wintour is far from the only big name in attendance from outside football. The presence of documentarian Louis Theroux gives some idea of the kind of crowd the Curzon Mayfair has attracted, while TV personalities Jack Whitehall and James Corden have accepted invites, as has singer Jess Glynne.
In the hour before the stars begin arriving, meanwhile, fans are queueing around the block to enter a cordoned-off area alongside the red carpet while passers-by whisper amongst themselves wondering when Beckham might arrive. Across town, the London Film Festival's opening gala is set to take place on Wednesday night, but you get the feeling that this screening - 24 hours earlier - is the main event for plenty in the capital.
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On the football side of things, ex-England stars Ian Wright and Gary Neville are among those at the screening. Football Focus presenter and Lionesses international Alex Scott is also there, mingling with guests before introducing Beckham himself, director Fisher Stevens and producer John Battsek.
During the Q&A with Scott, Beckham explains how a documentary had been suggested to him more or less from the moment he played his final professional game for Paris Saint-Germain in 2013. While other players of Beckham's calibre might have decided to strike while the iron was hot, there's a sense that - as well as wanting to wait - Beckham knew he had the luxury of knowing he would be able to bide his time without losing too much of his mystique.
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Anna Wintour was among the red carpet guests (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Former England captain David Beckham with wife Victoria (IMAGO/Steve Vas / Avalon)"This was something that, 10 years ago when I retired, people turned around to me and said 'okay, now's the time to do the documentary - now's the time to do a life doc about your career, about your family and everything that goes on around you'. And in all honesty I wasn't ready," the 48-year-old says.
"I'd just finished playing professionally... and I actually wasn't ready to look back. I wanted to jump straight into business, I wanted to build Miami, so that was my first priority.
"There's been so much that's happened in my life, and I also hadn't processed it, and I hadn't had time to process it. So I wasn't ready to do that."
Alex Scott hosted a Q&A ahead of the screening (James Gillham/REX/Shutterstock)
Former England international Scott was one of several ex-footballers in attendance (Brett D. Cove / SplashNews.com)Beckham finds himself in the surreal situation of watching from the front row while hundreds of other guests sit behind him and take in moments from his life, unable to see their reactions without turning his head. Then again, he always seemed acutely aware of his surroundings on the pitch, recognising when someone was breathing down his neck and when he had more time to take in his surroundings, so why would that hyper-awareness be any different inside a darkened cinema screen.
He claims this is what he wanted, having not yet seen the final edits because he wanted to wait until he had his friends and family together in one room. It's unclear whether he was also desperate to personally share the experience with Mirror Football, but I decide it's better to leave the answer as an implied 'yes'.
The experience might be different for his eldest son Brooklyn, though. Beckham has arrived with Victoria and their children Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper, while his parents Ted and Sandra are also snapped on the red carpet, but Brooklyn - now 24 - is the only one asked to relive his own birth on the big screen.
When watching the archive clips of a young Becks playing for England and Manchester United - or in his early courtship with Victoria - the resemblance to sons Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz is vivid. Only Brooklyn features in the first two episodes, though, and only then in footage of the media circus which surrounded the family after his 1999 birth.
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Gary Neville served as an executive producer on the documentary (AFP via Getty Images)As is inevitable in such a production, there are elements where it feels as though Beckham has some clear creative control - or at the very least the power to have said no if he wanted to. Former team-mate Neville is one of the executive producers, along with Beckham's friend and one-time youth team colleague David Gardner, but the United flavour is tempered by the presence of director Stevens - a self-confessed Liverpool fan with a background in Broadway and Hollywood rather than Manchester.
Some of the myth-making uses the power of omission. While nightclub-shy Neville stresses he never went to Manchester's famous Hacienda himself, Beckham stops just short, saying with a smirk: "I never went to the Hacienda... well actually I might have gone a couple of times".
Of course, there are some things he can't control. Such as the fact that Beckham's iconic halfway line goal against Wimbledon came with the number 10 on his back rather than the seven which forever became associated with his personal brand.
Jess Glynne was another of the non-sporting stars in attendance (Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP)
James Corden was also in attendance (Brett D. Cove / SplashNews.com)Speaking of Brand Beckham, a fair amount is made of the fact that he leant into brand endorsements - despite the annoyance which off-field discussions appeared to cause his managers for club and country. Glenn Hoddle cited Beckham's focus after dropping him for the opening game of the 1998 World Cup, while Sir Alex Ferguson noticed a change in the academy graduate when he started dating pop star Victoria.
"She picked me from a sticker book and I picked her from the telly," Beckham tells guests ahead of the premiere. There's a tongue-in-cheek element to the delivery, but there's also a deeper point behind it.
Athletes have had relationships with pop stars in the past, and will do in the future, but Beckham managed to tread the line between the two worlds. A number of his former team-mates appear as talking heads, including Neville, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Steve Bruce - adding an air of sporting credibility to those elements of the documentary - but Beckham's continued fame was never going to be what it was on the strength of his football alone..
Beckham's children and their partners joined him on the red carpet (Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock)Beckham acknowledges this himself in the documentary. "I knew my career was going to come to an end at some point and I wanted a career after football - and that ate away at [Alex Ferguson]," he said, "He just wanted me to be the best footballer that I could be and be married to a local girl that wasn't a superstar."
He was one of the best footballers of his generation, but never reached the absolute pinnacle of Ballon d'Or wins. He was a scorer of great goals, but his position in midfield meant he was never top scorer for his club in a single season - let alone top scorer in the league.
Early on in the documentary, New Order founder Peter Hook recognises how Beckham's arrival paved the way for footballers - not musicians - to become Manchester's most famous sons - be they homegrown or adopted. "When Beckham's star rose, it turned completely," he said. "We'd watched the footballers become the rock stars."
In the decade since Beckham's retirement, others have attempted to blend sporting fame with mainstream notoriety, though not everyone has managed it. Even now, though, there is a clamour to see what Beckham is doing, extending from the attention paid to his visit to Queen Elizabeth II's lying-in-state to the backlash he received for supporting the Qatari World Cup bid.
During his playing career, headlines about Beckham regularly attracted more attention than those about his peers - on both the front pages and the back. It might be a decade since he last walked off the pitch as a professional footballer, and 20 years since he last played for Manchester United, but it's clear he's still a huge draw.