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

Eric Swann's interview with Chris Robinson

Transcript

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

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

00:08process.

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

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

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

00:24Well, an interesting point is that I have not met LeBron yet in this process.

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

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

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

00:46I think in filmmaking, what is undervalued is when your producers support you full-heartedly

00:57and let you work.

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

01:07watched from afar.

01:09But every script, he would greenlight the changes.

01:15For when we went and scouted, he would greenlight the locations.

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

01:24a lot.

01:26And in the beginning, though, I was like, oh man, I want to meet him, I want to talk

01:29to him, I want to be filled in.

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

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

01:42And I look at this as a superhero origin story, as if we're telling the story of Superman

01:50when he was a kid, right?

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

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

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

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

02:17So we had to get it right.

02:20And then also just being able to tell a story in an authentic way.