Going ‘Inside Bill’s Brain’ with Documentary Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim

You may think you know Bill Gates. You’ve certainly used his Microsoft products. You’ve seen him speak at length about the various world health-related causes supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. You may have seen movies about him (the Pirates of Silicon Valley springs to mind). But chances are, the man behind all of that differs vastly from the man you think you know.

And that is what Davis Guggenheim set out to explore with his documentary Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.

The 3-part Netflix documentary employs a unique structure to examine three major aspects of Gates’ life: his work to improve sanitation in developing countries, his work to eradicate polio in Nigeria and endorse increased vaccination, and his search for climate change solutions. Each episode is interspersed with anecdotes from Gates’ personal life including perspectives from close family and friends.

“I’m really proud. It’s a very complex structure that you don’t typically see in a standard biography,” Guggenheim remarked.

The project stemmed from Gates’ involvement in an earlier Guggenheim documentary: the education-based Waiting for “Superman.” Guggenheim and his wife, actress Elisabeth Shue, share a love of tennis with Gates, and he pitched the documentary idea at the end of a tennis match to Gates’ acceptance.

One of the more surprising things Guggenheim noticed about Bill Gates over the 3-year filming period was that Gates remained a remarkably consistent person. That marked a new experience for Guggenheim.

“In every other movie, the relationship changes, the person opens up, and you see a different side of them,” Guggenheim said. “Bill never changed. You never see him change.”

The interviews included in the finished product were meticulously scheduled and adhered to the designated topics. Surprisingly, there were no topics off limits. Despite criticisms of the finished product bordering on hagiography, Guggenheim actually explored some of the most challenging moments of Gates’ life. They dug into the infamous deposition of the antitrust case against Microsoft, one of the most sensitive and low moments of Gates’ life. Animated sequences depict a teenage Bill Gates arguing with his mother and at odds with his father. It also candidly explores rare moments of dissension between Gates and his wife, Melinda.

Frequently considered to be the cool, even tempered foil of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Gates is actually revealed to be quite emotional in his personal life. It’s one of the aspects of the experience that surprised Guggenheim the most.

“It’s a side of him that’s not exhibited often. What I find is that he feels things very deeply, but it’s hard for the average eye to see it. I got to see it,” Guggenheim explained. “He’s the first person to cry in a movie. It’s a little bit frustrating because he’s spent his life trying to save people’s lives on the other side of the world, which he describes in very dispassionate terms. But he’s very emotional when he thinks of the individual person he’s dealing with.”

Despite this intense emotion, several online conspiracy theorists recently pointed to a 5-year-old TED talk in which he outlines the lack of preparedness against global pandemics as evidence that Gates, himself, is responsible for the COVID-19 outbreak. Bill Gates – the man who has pledged over $250 million to fight the virus – responsible for spreading it. The conspiracy theory has been endorsed and spread by right-wing pundits.

It’s a bizarre side-effect of Gates’ public work to save humanity from such disasters.

“Those conspiracy theories are ridiculous, and they’re a complete distraction. What Bill and Melinda have done by bringing vaccines that our kids have as a routine to countries that don’t have that is incredibly and has saved millions of lives. The conspiracy theories are only hurtful in that regard. I don’t pay attention to them.”

Bill and Melinda Gates recently made a very public display against President Trump’s threats to withdraw funding from the World Health Organization during the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a unique step for the couple whose work as highlighted in Inside Bill’s Brain is largely apolitical.

But, according to Guggenheim, it’s a completely necessary and admirable public stance taken at a time when public health is so critically important to the long-term survival of the human race.

“I so admire Bill and Melinda. Forget the series I made, I depend on them for the choices they’re making in this moment. The work that they’re doing gives me clarity about what we should be doing in this moment.”

Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates is now streaming on Netflix.