'Shooting Stars' Director Reveals The Important ‘Gift’ LeBron James Gave Him During The Film’s Production

Eric Swann's interview with Director Chris Robinson

Transcript

00:00 I really love biopics and one of the things I find really interesting from a creative

00:04 standpoint is when you have one of the subjects of said biopic being involved in the creative

00:08 process.

00:09 Obviously LeBron is created as an EP on this film.

00:12 I'm curious, within the development process, what was a key note or maybe a piece of advice

00:17 that he gave you in terms of crafting the story and just making the movie in general?

00:23 Well, an interesting point is that I have not met LeBron yet in this process.

00:33 But here's what I'll say.

00:34 This movie has been 13 years in the making and LeBron is a co-author of the book Shooting

00:40 Stars and I've been on this project for about three and a half years.

00:46 And I think in filmmaking what is undervalued is when your producers support you wholeheartedly

00:58 and let you work.

01:01 Now LeBron's obviously got a day job and he's a mogul so he's busy, but I think he watched

01:08 from afar.

01:09 But every script he would green light the changes.

01:14 For when we went and scouted he would green light the locations.

01:19 So he was the kind of producer who let the director do his work, which I appreciated

01:24 a lot.

01:25 And in the beginning though, I was like, "Oh man, I want to meet him.

01:29 I want to talk to him.

01:30 I want to be filled in."

01:31 But the gift that I received was I was able to speak to all the people around him.

01:37 His friends, his teachers, his coaches.

01:42 And I look at this as a superhero origin story.

01:48 As if we're telling the story of Superman when he was a kid, right?

01:52 And going to these places, being in his projects, being at the outdoor basketball courts where

01:58 he played for real, really informed me of the man he is and why he is the man he is.

02:05 I think that was a gift, both as a filmmaker and being given the creative freedom to do

02:13 something that's about his life, which wow, this is about his life.

02:17 So we had to get it right.

02:19 And then also just being able to tell a story in an authentic way.

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