Marina Zenovich talks about her three and half years tracking down the flamboyant Frenchman.

BBC4: How did you originally find out about Tapie?
Marina Zenovich: In April 1997 I went to a screening of the French film, Men, Women: A Users Manual. The director Claude Lelouch was there and he stood up and said, "This film is dedicated to the star of the movie, Bernard Tapie, who is in jail tonight." I remember thinking, "Who the hell is Barnard Tapie? I have to find out who this actor is and why he's in jail."

BBC4: How did you go about learning more about him?
MZ: No one in Los Angles knew who he was. I happened to be going to France the next month and asked people there, "Do you know about this actor Bernard Tapie?" They were like, "Actor? He's not an actor!"

BBC4: What were the people in the street's reactions to you asking about Tapie?
MZ: It was black or white. People's eyes lit or up or they hated him and thought he was a crook. I found that most working-class people really consider Tapie a hero. There is no one in America who is as interesting as Bernard Tapie.

BBC4: How many visits to France did it take to complete the film?
MZ: Fifteen, over three-and-a-half years. The visits were every few months. It was what I was obsessed with, what I spent my money on.

BBC4: What was it about Tapie that kept you going back?
MZ: I tried to get an interview with Tapie repeatedly. I befriended his best friend Jacques Seguela, who used to be the press attache to Mitterand. One day I complained to him how I was exhausted and spending all my own money and Tapie didn't want to talk to me. Seguela said, "He doesn't want to talk to you? Get Bernard Tapie on the phone!"

He called him and I could hear Bernard screaming on the other end. When he hung up the phone Seguela said, "He thinks you're in love with him." I looked at Jacques and said, "I am not in love with him, I am in love with his spirit!" And he looks at me and says, "So am I!" It was the greatest moment, and of course I didn't have a camera.

BBC4: Didn't you have some problems getting Tapie's permission to use his voice?
MZ: I had been taping Tapie's conversations without his knowledge, which is illegal. So I was very stressed out for three years and I needed to get a release. I went to see Jacques Seguela's secretary who said, "I'm going to try to get the tape to his son." Then I got a call last May, "Hello Marina, this is Laurent Tapie, I saw your movie and I loved it."

I was so excited because I thought this is how I'll get the release. Until I got the Tapie release I couldn't show the film. Laurent wanted to be interviewed. Although I'd finished the movie, I let him. The golden rule of documentary filmmaking is never let an interview pass you by. We did a lovely interview that I put throughout my movie, and he ended up getting a release. It was miraculous.

Marina Zenovich's new film, about Estonia's preparations in staging the Eurovision Song Contest will be shown on BBC Two on Saturday 18 May.