Throughout the history of art, artists have painted portraits because it was the most direct way of depicting humanity, for practical and financial reasons and because it was the cool thing to do. Many of these portraits still have the power to bring to life moments in time, acting as temporary social contracts.

The appeal of portraits and the questions they raise are still as poignant as ever. Some of the portraits by Velázquez or Goya that now hang in the Prado or the Louvre need no explanation to trigger an astonishing range of emotions. Even if our age has been marked more by Star Wars than Velázquez, the art of the portrait remains as natural and vibrant as television, cinema or the web. While Velázquez’s imagination was fuelled by questions of man’s place in a political or social space, the questions that captivate us are different ones.

It was for this reason in particular that we chose to create a portrait using cameras instead of canvas or paper. The portrait is part of the framework of time. While drawing and painting create two-dimensional works, a portrait on film inexorably becomes a multidimensional work.

This multidimensional aspect needs to be echoed in the picture and sound techniques used to trace it. The fact that two artists are signing the portrait at once makes it all the more atypical. It can be said that ever since poets began to draw inspiration from the muses, art has found itself at the centre of a process of dialogue or conversation. ‘Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait’ is a portrait on film of Zinédine Zidane, one of the greatest players in the history of football. This represents a singular opportunity for Zidane to have a game commemorated for all time. So it is in many ways the subject’s personality that makes such a portrait necessary.

Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno  

You were born in Glasgow, so has football always played an important part in your life?

The town’s two leading teams are Glasgow Rangers and Celtic. But since I was a child, I’ve always supported the third team, a much smaller one called the Partick Thistle. Any Celtic, PSG or Real supporter would look down their noses at me, but I don’t care, it’s my team and I’m very proud of them. I was practically born and will certainly die a Thistle supporter!

So why did you choose a subject like Zidane rather than a Thistle player?

Zidane is a major figure, known well beyond the football world. I have a natural affinity with him because he grew up with the working classes in Marseille just like I did in Glasgow. As a player, he has grace, elegance, ambition, professionalism and an incredible energy. I can’t believe that I’m actually daring to compare us [laughter], but I hope that at least in my own field, that of modern art, I represent something similar.

Another one of Zidane’s particularities is that he doesn’t talk a lot.

Silence is important in this portrait. Philippe and I are not at first portrait makers. But we thought a lot about the procedure, about carrying out the idea. The moment when everything clicked for me was when we went to see an exhibition of Spanish portraits at the Prado. It was impossible not to think about the portrait we were about to make. Even though times have changed, when I saw Goya and Velázquez’s works, I saw how close an image on screen was to an image on a canvas, between the painter and myself. The relationship between the subject, the artist and the on-looker creates a curious triangle. But one thing was certain: the painted characters’ silence at the Prado was deafening. Whereas even in the conceptual form of art, silence in itself doesn’t exist any more, words or complete speeches surround works anyway. But Zidane’s silence is only an appearance: his eyes and facial movements say a lot.

It is rather unusual to co-direct a film?

It may seem strange in the film industry, but a lot less in the world of modern art. Anyway, I steal ideas everywhere all the time! This match, for example, was planned to take place and we were involved in an event that was already happening without us having initially provoked it. The match was Real Madrid’s business. We didn’t plan a script or choreography, there was no Plan B – there wasn’t even a Plan A! Which we were careful not to tell the producers!

Did the choice to get as close to Zidane as possible turn you into a “Peeping Tom”?

No, not into a Peeping Tom – I was more like a stalker, a tracker, like a kid, can be. The incredible thing about this film, from beginning to end, was pursuing our character. Zidane had been transferred from Turin to Madrid, we followed him there and wanted him and him alone for the film, even when it looked like he’d refuse. There were 80,000 people we could have filmed during the match, plus the other players, but we continued to focus on him, and him alone. Psychologically and physically, he’s an exhausting subject to follow. Normally, no one can watch someone for 90 minutes solid, even when you are in bed with your wife, or when a child is with its mother!

Between the Juventus and Real period, Zidane had become a sort of living God. The atmosphere in the stadium, the public’s faith evoking a blind belief in football, practically a religion.

He’s just a man, you know! It’s strange, in the stadium where I used to go as a child, there were no Gods. I remember the guy who used to sit in front of me every week much better than the players who were on the field. If you discuss this God idea with Zidane, he’ll be really embarrassed, practically mortified. We never treated him like that – we just wanted to make a portrait of a man at work.

Even if it got tense at the end of the match?

Hush! To quote Hitchcock: “Don’t tell your friends!”

The entire soundtrack for Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait was composed and performed by Mogwaï it was recorded during winter 2005-2006 at the group’s own studio, The Castle Of Doom, in Glasgow.