Bill Gates Netflix Docu-Series Trailer Dives Into Microsoft Co-Founder’s Brain

Netflix has released a trailer for Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates — the upcoming three-part documentary series with a clunky title that offers a look at the Microsoft co-founder — which comes across as a part-commercial for his charity Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and a part-deep dive into his past that involved being ruthless as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. The trailer doesn't give a clear idea of how revealing the docu-series — made by Oscar-winning director of An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim — will be, though we should know a bit more after it premieres at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, USA over the weekend.

The Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates trailer opens with Guggenheim asking him rapid-fire questions, which involve his favourite animal (dog), favourite food (hamburger), and what he has for breakfast (nothing), before jumping to a big one: what's his biggest fear. Gates responds: “I don't want my brain to stop working.” After the jump, his wife Melinda then says her husband is a multi-processor instead of just saying multi-tasker, an obvious nod to his Microsoft career. Melinda then offers something more concrete, delving into how he thinks and what bothers him.

It then jumps into his past, with Bill's commentary, animation, and archival footage used to talk about the rise of Microsoft under him, which involved him sacrificing his personal life for professional goals. Present-day Bill ultimately sums it up in a piece-to-camera: “I had the wrong way of looking at things.” Now, having retired from Microsoft, he says he's looking at what's important in the world, and to him, that means focusing on “energy, climate change, and disease eradication”. The trailer also shows him having a conversation with his close friend and business magnate Warren Buffett.

And in what's slightly unusual, Gates left a comment on the YouTube version of the trailer: “I want to thank Netflix and Davis Guggenheim for the great work they did on this documentary. I hope everyone likes what they've put together.” On Twitter, he revealed that the docu-series has been made over the “last few years” of his life.

Here's the official synopsis for Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates, via Netflix:

“After stepping down as CEO of Microsoft, Gates began what is undeniably one of the greatest professional second acts in modern history when he shifted his time and considerable intellect toward solving some of the world's most persistent problems. The series, in-depth and unfiltered in its depiction of a man's life journey, both his triumphs and setbacks, offers unprecedented access to Gates as he pursues unique solutions to some of the world's most complex problems with the same level of optimism, curiosity, and fervour that inspired his original vision for Microsoft.”

Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates will release September 20, 2019 on Netflix worldwide.