‘The Dynasty’ director reveals the most surprising Patriots figure he talked to
Matthew Hamacheck, director of the Apple TV+ docuseries "The Dynasty: New England Patriots," discusses the unearthed Tom Brady footage that got him excited, interviewing Bill Belichick, and the most surprising person he talked to.
When Matthew Hamachek, the director of “The Dynasty” — Apple TV+’s new docuseries about the Patriots — sat down to begin work on the 10-part series, he was faced with the prospect of piecing together a 20-year story that, at the time, was still unfolding.
“The Dynasty,” which begins streaming on Apple TV+ on Feb. 16, had been in the works for years. Even before author Jeff Benedict’s book of the same name was released in 2020, Apple had already optioned the rights. So even before Tom Brady decided to leave the Patriots in 2020, won another Super Bowl with the Buccaneers in 2021, and before Bill Belichick and the team parted ways in 2024, Apple already saw enough material to warrant a 10-part series.
To try to tell the authoritative story of the Patriots dynasty, Hamachek relied on around 70 primary source interviews, more than 35,000 hours of archival footage, and sit-downs with the Foxborough triumvirate: Brady, Belichick, and owner Robert Kraft.
Prior to the release of “The Dynasty,” Hamachek chatted with Boston.com about the most surprising interviews he conducted, the unearthed Tom Brady footage he couldn’t wait to share with the world, the breakdown of the Brady-Belichick-Kraft relationship, and what it was like interviewing the famously press-averse head coach.
Q: Outside of the three primary interview subjects of the series — Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and Robert Kraft — whose interviews most surprised or excited you?
Matt Hamachek: One of them would have to be Ernie Adams, who was the director of football research for the team. He really hadn’t done that much on camera before, but he’s such an incredible storyteller. That guy should be on TV every Sunday, because he’s so good on camera.
I think Scott Pioli is another one. He’s obviously done a little bit more work on camera for NFL Network and other places. But neither of them had really talked about this story in great detail before, and so to have access to them was great.
When you think about it, it’s amazing the number of guys who came through that building who are on TV now, and who are great storytellers. Tedy [Bruschi] is on TV, Randy [Moss] is on TV. Devin McCourty is on TV. I’m sure Matt Slater is going to be on TV whenever he’s done. They’re all such fascinating people.
But at the same time, the Patriots are notoriously a team that keeps everybody at arm’s length. And so while these guys are incredibly charismatic, they really hadn’t had the opportunity to tell their stories. So to be able to have them all come together, all be on the record, all on camera, is sort of what makes this series unique.
Q: On a similar note, you mentioned going through 35,000 hours of archival footage. Were there any clips that made you sit up and say, “Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to put this in”?
MH: When David Nugent — who was Tom’s roommate when they were living together during Tom’s rookie year in 2000 — came to interview, he said, “By the way, I’ve got this footage of me and Tom in our condo.” They were living in Ty Law’s old condo that Ty sold to Tom.
The thing that people kept talking about in our interviews about those early days of the team is that Tom Brady wasn’t “The G.O.A.T.” at that point in time. He was just an average guy, he was just “Tommy.” It’s one thing to have people talk about it, and it’s another to see this footage David Nugent gave us. This is Tom Brady before the GQ covers, before the Lombardi trophies. To be able to see that is incredible.
We also have footage from inside the locker room as the Spygate scandal unfolds, and you get to see Bill Belichick addressing the team about it. There’s also this great moment after they lose to the Giants. You know, Bill has this reputation of being this guy who never reflects backwards, who always says, “Hey, last season was last season, we’re not going to talk about that.” But you have this moment where he talks about how special that year was and how they have to cherish it.
There’s so many moments like this throughout the series where you get to peer behind these walls that you really were never able to before. It’s fascinating to watch these characters interact with each other, both in the footage, but also through the stories they tell.
Q: Bill Belichick has cultivated a reputation over the years of being terse with the press, to put it mildly. What was it like interviewing him?
MH: It was fascinating talking to Bill. We’ve all seen him on the lectern doing his, ‘We’re on to Cincinnati’ thing. But Bill’s a great storyteller. For the diehard Patriots fans out there, I think you got to see some of that when he was doing Dante Scarnecchia’s Patriot Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.
He is really an interesting guy. He tells this great story about when he got Randy Moss in a trade to the Patriots in 2007. He calls Randy, and then we have Randy’s side of the story, where Randy’s in a club. He picks up the phone — and Randy does a great Bill Belichick impression — Randy doesn’t believe that it’s actually Belichick calling. And Bill’s sort of laughing and being like, “Well, I guess he doesn’t want to come to the Patriots.” And there’s this great back and forth between the two of them. Bill is great on camera. It was fascinating to get to talk to him and ask him all sorts of questions.
Q: There’s been a lot of ink spilled about the ups and downs of the Brady-Belichick-Kraft relationship. Did you ever get a sense of any lingering animosity during these interviews, or was it pretty much universal respect?
MH: I think it started out in this incredible place. But this is a 10-part series. And so what starts out as three outsiders — Robert Kraft sort of leveraging everything in order to be able to buy the team, Bill Belichick with a sort of underwhelming stint in Cleveland, Tom Brady was the 199th pick — these unlikely characters come together and create this incredibly selfless environment that leads to championships.
And then towards the tail end of it? Yeah, I think a lot of the things that you’ve probably read about or heard whispers or rumors about play themselves out over the course of the last three or four episodes. I think it’s one thing to read about it in articles with anonymous sources. It’s another thing to hear about it from the people themselves. That’s coming in March, so I don’t want to spoil any of it. But yes, we go into every possible detail about how this dynasty was created, how it was sustained, and then how it ultimately ended.
But I think we do it in an incredibly nuanced, careful way. Because nothing is binary in that story, or in any great story. It’s not just this one thing that happened and everything fell apart. It was over the course of 20 years. You think about any relationship that lasts 20 years, it’s incredibly complicated. And the fact that they sustained it for so long is remarkable.
I think whether you think you know everything about the Patriots or you could care less about football, this story is for you.
The first two episodes of “The Dynasty: New England Patriots” are now streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes debuting Fridays.
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