Q&A with director Colin Barnicle

Five questions for Colin Barnicle, director of “The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox,” which debuts on Netflix on Wednesday. Read our review here.

Q. One of the most striking things about the player interviews is how openly some of them express their self-doubt. Derek Lowe, for example, is objectively hilarious when he talks about how dejected he was in Game 4 against the Yankees in 2004. Were you surprised at how openly everyone talked about how low they felt at certain moments?

A I think some of the openness comes with the passage of 20 years. And some of that is just because of who these guys are. It was cut for time reasons, which is probably a bad decision on my part, but I asked Tom Werner, “What did you say to the staff and fans after Game 3 of the ALCS in 2004?” And he said, “Oh, I told them.” said we'll be here again, we'll be back at Yankee Stadium, and we'll beat these guys and win the World Series.” And I said, “What were You Think?” And he said, “Oh, I thought there was no way we were coming back.”

Q. I found Theo Epstein to be the most compelling interview in the documentary. Did you know he is such a great storyteller?

A I remember we were hoping to get a good two hour interview from him and we interviewed him for seven hours and he could have gone on. I felt like a lot of the candor of the interviews was due to the death of Tim Wakefield.

When Tim died, all these guys got back together who maybe wouldn't have written to each other as much. Their journey together was, in a sense, revived when Tim died. I feel like a lot of the candor of the interviews, Theo's included, had to do with the fact that these guys already remembered their shared history with Tim and this team.

F. Grady Little will upset Red Sox fans again when they hear him in the documentary. Were you surprised that he was so defiant about the decision to leave Pedro Martinez behind when it all came crashing down in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS?

A You know, I kind of understand it from Grady's perspective. Terry Francona was the perfect manager for the Sox when they finally won. But many of Grady's fingerprints can be found on that 2004 team, and credit should go to him. He deserves credit for really developing David Ortiz into the hitter he became and for giving Kevin Millar, who the Marlins wanted to send to Japan, the confidence to believe he belonged here.

I mean, the guy won 95 games in a row and lost his job. This has never happened before. From my perspective, since I was at that game, I actually only asked the questions I wanted answered while I was sitting in the stands that night.

Q. Was there anyone you wanted to talk to but just didn't feel like it?

A We didn't get Nomar (Garciaparra). We contacted him several times. But him not being able to sit down was kind of an indication to us that this story is still present for a lot of these players, good or bad. Whether it was (Derek) Jeter, A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) or Nomar, it was an advantage for our team to not make them sit down because it was a reminder to them that even though this was 20 years ago happened it never really stops happening. It was further confirmation that this is a story we should be telling now. It stays with them always, for every single day of their lives.

Q. As I watched the second part of the documentary about the 2003 season, the tension of the rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees at the time came to the fore. And it had to be told in full because 2004 has even more weight because of how 2003 ended. But I have to tell you, it was painful to relive it.

A Oh, it's terrible. I remember when we went to see Kevin Millar. He has two teenage boys, so they weren't born yet when all this happened. So it was interesting to show them parts of these games that they hadn't experienced themselves.

They lived them and watched them now, I can tell you that. You could hear them saying things like, “Come on, take Pedro out.” They were experiencing what we were experiencing. I think that makes you appreciate the successes of 2004 even more.

This special podcast miniseries revisits the 2004 Red Sox, a team of underdogs and underdogs known as the “Idiots” who defied the odds to break the curse that had hung over Fenway Park for 86 years. Go behind the scenes to one of the greatest sports stories ever told with insights from Dan Shaughnessy, Stan Grossfeld, Terry Francona, Johnny Damon and Kevin Millar.

Listen to “The Curse Breakers” below or here Apple, Spotifyor Amazon.

Chad Finn can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @GlobeChadFinn.