LeBron James Discovers Silver Spring Inc

In a scenario that’s been played and replayed in countless cities, towns and villages, a documentary about LeBron James’ earliest years opened the American Film Institute’s SilverDocs Festival in Silver Spring, MD, home of Discovery Communications, and its star made the evening.

Arguably it was the most successful opening night the Festival has ever had. Without argument it was the most exciting.

The film—More Than A Game—was almost a secondary source of excitement, though. The main ingredient was the man himself, King James, who joined his 4 childhood teammates, their coach and filmmaker Kris Belman on stage after the film for a short but interesting discussion. Following the panel in which LeBron, 24, proved far more articulate, at ease and insightful than his cronies, Discovery chief David Zaslav invited everyone in the gorgeously renovated AFI Silver Theater to a party with substantial food, drink, music, games and LeBron James.

In truth, you had to be somebody to dine with the King. A triumphant 2-block stroll down Colesville Road from the theater to Discovery’s World Headquarters for the soiree (see crude photo below) was the closest most of us would get to LeBron. Once at Discovery he disappeared behind a door that read “Private Party.”

But the corporations that collaborated on the public party—Stella Artois, Jim Beam, SnapSports, Discovery and others—had plenty of diversions, food, drink and music to assuage patrons who actually thought they’d be groovin’ with LeBron.

Not that we can blame the corporations for wanting to be identified with James, who’s said he wants to be the first billion-dollar athlete. Yet the party was an unusual corporate mix. While a high school pep band and cheerleaders serenaded patrons, including plenty of kids, as they entered Discovery headquarters, inside were waitresses in tight shorts serving Jim Beam shots (see another crude photo below). There was also a basketball court—provided by SnapSports—and a few men on stilts with baskets on their heads, urging party goers to shoot mini basketballs into the basket.

The food was a curious mix, too. Not that it wasn’t delicious. Displayed on tables with basketball centerpieces was sushi, hot dogs, fish tacos and hamburger sliders. Waiters wore basketball referee uniforms. And true to Discovery net Planet Green, plates were made of a thick wood substance that seemed to be recycled something.

Curious, too, were the videos (hey, you can’t have a party without video). On large screens above the smorgasbord was a panoply of college basketball highlights, whose audio was inaudible above the crowd noise and the blaring of DJs Wale and tabi Bonney. Why college basketball? To emphasize that this is the only level of basketball LeBron has not played? Regardless, the video raised the excitement level of an already exciting evening.

Guess we should have known corporate America was in the house when Zaslav’s opening remarks included a sizzle reel, lauding Discovery as a media megalith, with shots of penguins, deadly catches and Oprah (couldn’t they have edited out the Jon & Kate bits, though?). On the other hand, Discovery paid for the renovation of the theater where we were seated and it underwrote SilverDocs, so they’re entitled and they were gracious hosts.
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Oh, yes, the documentary. It’s a very good film that tells the story of LeBron and his mates, 3 of whom played with him since grade school near Akron, Ohio. It’s also the story of one of the boys’ dad, Dru Joyce II, who leaves the corporate world to coach his son’s rec league team.

Through a variety of circumstances, the boys stay together on the court through the years and even join Dru’s son, Little Dru, when he chooses to forgo the neighborhood high school for a largely white parochial school. That school, St Vincent-St Mary, will give Little Dru—and he is small—a chance to play ball, the son tells his father. The father agrees and eventually becomes that team’s coach.

St Vincent-St Mary’s goes on to become the top team in the nation, garnering an allegiance so large its games are moved to university arenas. LeBron becomes the high school player of the century and is adored by students, fans, sports agents and ESPN, which, in a controversial move, televises several of his games. LeBron forgoes college for the pros and becomes, well, you know.

Hollywood begs for a script like this. Instead, Belman, a student filmmaker from the Akron area, got it when he decided to chronicle a high school team that was making a lot of noise on the local scene for an assignment in a documentary film making course. When he finished it, the film earned him a B+ in the class. But he wasn’t finished, really.

James’ eventual success in the NBA convinced Belman that he’d filmed the story of a superstar’s formative years. He shopped his class assignment to Hollywood for 2 years and eventually found a backer in Lionsgate.

It will be released in theaters in October and probably do much better at the box office than most documentaries, considering yesterday’s event was the toughest ticket in Washington. The best thing Lionsgate can do is never use the word documentary in its marketing. The second best thing it can do is put James’ name in the title (he’s already getting executive producer credits).

In truth, a little documentary it is no longer. It’s now a Hollywood “project,” slick, well filmed and loaded with television footage—much of it from ONN, the regional cable sports net—of the team’s games and interviews. Resembling a very good ESPN piece, complete with the juxtaposition of thrilling game highlights and interviews, the clichés about sports are thick—lots of talk about dedication, focus, playing by the rules.

And while the film is geared to sports fans—there are countless shots of LeBron jamming the ball in the basket with gusto, it’s not only a sports film. In fact, the intricacies of basketball largely are ignored—yes, I know, when you have a physical force like LeBron James on your team, it removes the need for much strategy beyond give the ball to LeBron and stay out of his way. It’s really a simple story, entertainingly told, of five young men and a coach who stuck together. While LeBron is the star, the film spends plenty of time—maybe too much time—examining the other players before it focuses on James.

Unlike a very good ESPN piece, it lacks depth about LeBron. There’s far moer about the other four boys and the coach. What was LeBron like as a teammate? How did this young man from a single-parent household develop into both a great athlete and a level-headed man? Was there resentment of LeBron by his teammates? The film hints at answers to these questions, but that’s all you get. It’s More Than A Game is only a little more than the games, but that’s more than enough.

A Modest Proposal: How about releasing Belman’s original doc for his class assignment as an extra feature on the inevitable DVD issue of More Than a Game. A less modest proposal: How about getting new Discovery employee Oprah to put her name on the movie, as in “Oprah Winfrey Presents…” It worked well for the musical version of The Color Purple.