There’s a new basketball movie on the scene (or court?), and it’s called Shooting Stars. Streamable with a Peacock subscription, the high school biopic centers on LeBron James, Willie McGee, Dru Joyce and the rest of players who made up St. Vincent–St. Mary High School’s “Fab Five” from the late ‘90s to early ‘00s. James serves as an executive producer on the flick via his SpringHill Company production banner, which has been growing over the past several years. Veteran film, TV and music video director Chris Robinson was tapped to helm the feature as well and, as it so happens, he received an important “gift” from James while the project was in the works.
It goes without saying that Chris Robinson had a major task ahead of him with the creation of this movie, which was adapted from the memoir of the same name written by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger. James can be hands-on so, when I spoke to Robison during the Shooting Stars press junket, I inquired about how the athlete and businessman impacted production. Interestingly enough, the filmmaker revealed that he still hasn’t actually met the four-time NBA champion. Robinson still said, however, that James’ influence was still felt:
Well, an interesting point is that I have not met LeBron yet, in this process. But here's what I'll say. This movie’s been 13 years in the making, and LeBron is a co-author of the book Shooting Stars. And I've been on this project for about three and a half years. And I think, in filmmaking, what is undervalued is when your producers support you full heartedly and let you work. Now, LeBron’s obviously got a day job, and he's a mogul. So he's busy, but I think he watched from afar. But every script, you know, he would greenlight the changes. For when we went and scouted, he would greenlight the locations. So he was the kind of producer who let the director do his work, which I appreciated a lot.
So it sounds like even though the former Cleveland Cavalier wasn’t actually in the room with the director, he still had plenty of input. But the philanthropist more importantly gave him the space to breathe and carve out his vision. The ATL helmer definitely makes a good point in that it’s usually invaluable whenever a director is truly given their own space to work their magic.
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That doesn’t mean that Chris Robinson wasn’t at all eager to rub shoulders with the future hall of famer, who broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record earlier this year. Later during our chat, Robinson admitted that he really wanted to meet the basketball great early on. However, as that feeling went away, he began to appreciate the “gift” that King James’ impact allotted him:
And in the beginning, though, you know, I was like, ‘Oh, man, I want to meet him, I want to talk to him, I wanna be filled in.’ But the gift that I received was I was able to speak to all the people around him, his friends, his teachers, his coaches. … I look at this as a superhero origin story, as if we're telling the story of Superman when he was a kid, right? And going to these places, being in his projects, being at the outdoor basketball courts, where he played for real, really informed me of the man he is and why he is the man he is. So I think that was a gift, both as a filmmaker and being given the creative freedom to do something that's about his life, which ‘Wow, this is about his life.’ So we had to get it right. And then also, just being able to tell a story in an authentic way.
Based on his comments, Chris Robinson certainly took full advantage of the “gift” he received while working on the sports movie. The resources that he had at his disposal are also a testament to the fact that LeBron James has touched so many lives. And in the world of cinema, he’s proving to be a true force as well whether he’s producing a Space Jam sequel or working with Adam Sandler on a basketball drama. One would think that James is pleased with Robinson’s work on Shooting Stars, as it’s a sweet tribute to him and his teammates.
Check out Shooting Stars on Peacock now, and check out CinemaBlend’s schedule of 2023 new movie releases for details on other major titles. You can also read up on other great sports movies and how to watch them.
