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Documentary on historic No. 1 St. V-M team debuts
By Brian Windhorst
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Thursday, Sep 04, 2008
In the spring of 2003, the ongoing spectacle of LeBron James and the St. Vincent-St. Mary boys basketball team had become not only one of the biggest sports stories in the nation, but also quite a soap opera.
That soap opera is about to play out on the silver screen.
Everyone wanted a piece of James — for his amazing play on the court as a senior and for the swirling controversies and story lines that came with the uncharted territory.
Fans crammed every public appearance across the country. National media outlets camped out at the high school. Representatives from shoe companies moved into Akron-area hotels. Competing agents came offering loads of cash. Potential business partners angled for attention by sending gifts to James and family members.
James himself was in and out of court with high-powered attorneys to fight the Ohio High School Athletic Association over a suspension.
For those reasons, by the end of what turned out to be a historic season, James and his Irish teammates became recluses to a certain degree, limiting access the outside world had to them.
All except for a then 21-year-old student, whose work is about to open a new window into James' life and the behind-the-scenes story of that team.
Kristopher Belman, an Akron native and Walsh Jesuit High School graduate, was working on a documentary project while studying film and television production at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles at the time. His idea was to chronicle the season and the significance for the team's five seniors, all of them close friends with intriguing stories beyond that of James.
To even Belman's surprise, coach Dru Joyce II agreed to allow him to travel and be in the locker room, sideline huddles and hotels with the team, even as he said no to so many others seeking similar access. As the Irish stormed to a state championship and a No. 1 national ranking, Belman was there to record it for posterity.
''I felt comfortable with him; he was from Akron and he seemed to genuinely care about the whole story,'' Joyce said. ''There were a lot of special emotions around that team.''
More than six years later, after lots of editing, reshooting and dozens of meetings and sleepless nights as Belman wrangled with how to best use the footage, it has become a finished product.
Belman will debut the film, More Than A Game, on Saturday at the Toronto International Film Festival. James and the movie's other stars — seniors from the 2002 team, Willie McGee, Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton and Romeo Travis — will be there for the premiere and a slam-dunk charity event.
The future of the film is uncertain. It will depend on how well it is received by movie-industry executives in Toronto. There are tentative plans for a release in Northeast Ohio at an undetermined date.
''I'm proud of how it came together,'' Belman said. ''A documentary is a scary medium because it is real life. The characters in it have to feel good about it. They let me into their lives at a very special time. It is a big responsibility.''
After he turned in his senior project, which Belman sheepishly points out didn't earn an ''A,'' he toyed with how best to use it. While James is the headliner, Belman was determined to stay true to the story of the five close friends and the coach.
It was an approach that turned off some executives whom Belman met with about turning the project into a full feature.
''With LeBron in it, it can work against you,'' Belman said. ''LeBron is a major character, but it is not a vanity project for him. It is about that group of guys and their character arcs. People will see a different side of LeBron, though. They will see him as a friend. It will humanize him.''
The film doesn't only show never-before-seen moments from the season, but also shows the long journey of the quintet from their eighth-grade year to winning the national championship. And it tells of the personal struggles and triumphs along the way for all five, plus coach Joyce.
It was the sentiment that eventually earned James' respect in getting reinvolved with the project over the past 21/2 years. James has rejected such offers in the past.
''I don't think many people know our whole story, and it is a great story,'' James said. ''[Belman] presented it in a way that it was meaningful to us, and that is why we trusted him with the story.''
Belman has been working on the movie full time since 2005, when he got the backing of producer Harvey Mason Jr. and his production company. Mason, who is most known for his work with the movie Dreamgirls and played college basketball at the University of Arizona, shared Belman's vision about the story of the five friends — and not James exclusively — and supported the project.
''Harvey was grabbed by the stories and we just clicked,'' Belman said. ''It was important for me that we could make it a quality product and do it in a professional way and that is what I think we've done.''
Belman, who still lives in Los Angeles, spent a month in Akron filming last year. He did follow-up interviews with the characters and shot in areas around the city where they grew up.
''We tried to present Akron in a beautiful way,'' he said.
Belman, who grew up on the city's west side, said he tried to express his pride in his hometown and its still-famous high school basketball team, even if ultimately most are attracted to it because of James' celebrity. As for the headliner, his goals are the same.
''I think people are really going to like it,'' said the Cavaliers star and new Olympic gold-medal winner. ''And they are going to see a side of me that they haven't seen before.''
MORE THAN A GAME
The documentary More Than a Game will premiere at 12:15 p.m. Saturday in the Ryerson Theatre in conjunction with the Toronto Film Festival.
The first public screenings will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday and 6 p.m. Sept. 13 at the AMC 6 Theatre in Toronto.
Brian Windhorst can be reached at bwindhor@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
In the spring of 2003, the ongoing spectacle of LeBron James and the St. Vincent-St. Mary boys basketball team had become not only one of the biggest sports stories in the nation, but also quite a soap opera.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 04:03 PM, 09/05/2008
Congratulations to Kristopher Belman! This is a big deal for him.
Posted 04:04 PM, 09/05/2008
Yawn.
