"Living Legend" Zlatan Ibrahimovic Comes To The Silver Screen

Even though he's still an active player, a new film premiering Friday is attempting to tell the story of Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic by focusing on the star's childhood growing up in a poor part of the city of Malmo. Ibrahimovic, Sweden's most successful player, still plays for AC Milan at age 40, and is known for his bravado and swagger, standing in contrast to his typically more humble compatriots.

After starting out with Sweden's Malmo FF in 1999, he has gone on to play for major teams including Ajax, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United.

Pitched as a "true underdog story," the movie "Jag ar Zlatan" (I am Zlatan), which premieres Friday, is based on the autobiographical book of the same name, but director Jens Sjogren told AFP that he wanted to hone in on the player's early years.

"When I read the first chapters of the book I thought of my own childhood," Sjogren said, adding that by focusing on the young Zlatan the movie is likely to appeal to not just those who have followed "Ibra's" football career.

"Even though Zlatan had a rough childhood at times we have all been children and struggled with different things," the 45-year-old director said.

For Sjogren it was important for the film to also tell the story from a child's perspective.

"What's he's experiencing, we get to experience, but when there's things he doesn't hear or doesn't understand then we as spectators shouldn't understand that either," he said.

'Big honour'

The film starts following Zlatan from about aged 12, when he struggled in school. It also shows him moving away from his mother and in with his father before moving on to his first years as a professional player at Malmo and Ajax.

The perhaps somewhat daunting task of