The new movie Shooting Stars tracks the rise of the Akron, Ohio, native hailed as “the next Michael Jordan” as a high school underclassman before eventually fulfilling that prophecy, and, like his fellow No. 23, becoming one of the NBA’s all-time greatest players.
In the film, James (Marquis “Mookie” Cook) shares the limelight with his close-knit coterie of friends and teammates (Caleb McLaughlin’s Dru Joyce III, Avery Wills’s Willie McGee, Khalil Everage’s Sian Cotton and Scoot Henderson’s Romeo Travis) that won three Ohio state championships in four years for Akron’s St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish.
“That’s actually what attracted me to the script,” says Chris Robinson, the prolific music video and commercial director who counts Shooting Stars as his third feature film after ATL (2006) and Beats (2019). “It was not just a story about a basketball player becoming a pro. It was about all the other things that we all can identify with.
“There were a lot of themes about brotherhood and, when I broke it down, this is also a father-son story. Even though LeBron’s dad wasn’t around, his coach [Wood Harris’s Dru Joyce II] kind of filled that space by teaching him things and letting him know what it’s going to take just to be a better human being. And I think that has everything to do with the fact that he is who he is.”
Dru Joyce II assembled the core group for their middle school rec team Shooting Stars. And when Dru Joyce III was going to be placed on the junior varsity squad at Buchtel, the Akron public high school the boys planned to attend, James and his teammates called a controversial audible, conspiring to play together at the predominantly white Catholic school St. Vincent-St. Mary instead.
Beyond LeBron’s uncanny basketball gifts, he owes a huge debt to his friend group, with whom he shared most formative moments. “Even if your job happens to be the most amazing basketball player in the history of basketball, [when you have] that group of friends, all that doesn’t matter,” Robinson says. “It’s just joy when you’re connected. And I think that’s what his superpower is. You know, his basketball IQ is off the charts. But I think his superpower is that this group of friends, this community, this village, they’re still connected.”
In other news – Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Ice Cube to Join Run-D.M.C. at Hip Hop 50 Live
Mass Appeal is teaming up with Live Nation and Yankee Stadium to celebrate hip-hop’s birthday. Billed as “on the day it began in the Bronx, where it all started,” the triumvirate will host Hip Hop 50 Live on Aug. 11. The star-studded lineup will feature sets from a slew of artists, including a headlining, guest-filled set from Run-D.M.C., whose performance is being billed as “Bottom of the 9th … the Walk-Off.”
“I am honored to hit the stage in the Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop and celebrate all of my heroes,” Run tells Rolling Stone. Learn More
