Spike Lee promises, 'You're gonna see a very open, honest Derek Jeter' in ESPN docuseries 'The Captain'

• The first episode of Derek Jeter's 7-part ESPN docuseries, "The Captain," premieres Monday night.
• Executive producer Spike Lee promised that "you're gonna see a very open, honest Derek Jeter."

The first episode of ESPN's seven-part docuseries detailing the life and career of New York Yankees icon Derek Jeter will light up screens across the country Monday night.

And unlike the buttoned-up shortstop who kept his personal life under lock-and-key during his illustrious playing career, the man viewers will see in "The Captain" is "a very open, honest Derek Jeter," according to Executive Producer Spike Lee.

"Derek did what he needed to do [when he was a player]," Lee told Insider ahead of the series premiere. "This is New York City, you know? You can't have all your business out on the street. You gotta keep it on the low.

"But he's not playing anymore," he added. "He's looking back on his life. He opened up."

Take the first episode of the series, which focuses on Jeter's upbringing and the adversity he faced as a biracial kid in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Jeter explains how the countless critical glances his family received throughout his childhood helped make him into a man prepared to handle scrutiny with a level head.

And he's not the only one weighing in: His mother, Dorothy, also discusses how she raised her kids to have thick skin through the "tough" Midwestern judgment of their parents' interracial marriage.

Lee lauded the project's director — Emmy-winner Randy Wilkins — for gaining the Jeter family's trust. As he put it: "If the people you're interviewing don't trust you, you got no documentary."

But Wilkins, he said, just "clicked" with Jeter, which enabled him to showcase the baseball legend in a sincere light. A Bronx native and a born-and-bred Yankees fan, Wilkins said he was prepared to take on the lofty task because he was already intimately familiar with Jeter's story and his impact.

"I just earned his trust," Wilkins told Insider. "I think he realized that he was in good hands, that he could be vulnerable, and that we were gonna take care of him as filmmakers."

"A lot of it is just earning trust and letting people know that you're putting their well-being first and that you're not gonna try to exploit them or take advantage of them, but you're truly trying to tell their story," he added. "So once you get to that point, then they open up."

It also helped that Jeter had already resolved "that he wanted to share part of himself with the world," Wilkins explained. Even before Mr. November shook hands with his soon-to-be docuseries director, he'd decided he was ready to divulge more of his life than he ever had before.

At the Tribeca Festival premiere of "The Captain," Jeter explained his desire to capture his journey so he could share it with his three daughters someday. But the motivation was also selfish; he wanted to look back in a way he'd never been able to before.

"One thing that I've always had a real tough time with during my career — and we've talked about this, Randy — is I've never had a chance to reflect on anything I've done," Jeter told the audience in New York City. "It's always what's next, and it could be a character flaw, but I think it's part of the reason why I'm here.

"So I wanted to do the documentary," he added.

The inaugural episode of "The Captain" airs Monday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN, immediately following this year's MLB All-Star Home Run Derby. Subsequent episodes debut each Thursday through August 11.