September 2009 | blackfilm.com | MORE THAN A GAME | An Interview with Lebron James, Dru Joyce III, Romeo Travis, Sian Cotton and Willie McGee

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MORE THAN A GAME | An Interview with...

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MORE THAN A GAME
An Interview with Lebron James, Dru Joyce III, Romeo Travis, Sian Cotton and Willie McGee
by Wilson Morales

September 28, 2009

There are plenty of groups that have been called "the Fab Five" -- the Beatles, the Spice Girls, and the freshman and sophomore starters of the University of Michigan men's basketball team, which included the likes of Chris Webber and Jalen Rose.

While they all had a short run, there's one group of five from Akron, Ohio, that has been fabulous longer than any of the others. In the inspirational coming-of-age documentary 'More Than a Game,' which hits theaters Oct. 2, NBA superstar LeBron James, along with Dru Joyce III, Romeo Travis, Sian Cotton and Willie McGee, tell their story of a team of guys who played together and went on to become lifelong friends.

Coached by Dru Joyce, the guys, who joined their church's basketball team as kids and stayed together throughout high school, were repeatedly challenged both on and off the court. As James' exploding worldwide celebrity status took hold, it threatened to destroy everything they set out to achieve together.

Capturing on camera a majority of their emotional state and perseverance was a young college student named Kristopher Belman, who initially started this as a school project. Little did he that he would produce something truly amazing and uplifting.

In speaking with Blackfilm.com, the players, Belman and Joyce talked about staying together as friends and letting the filmmaker capture their lives on film.

What was the challenging aspect of going through the endless hours of footage and making a film out of it?

Kris Belman: The process of getting involved with these guys. At the time I joined them, they were already being hit from so many angles, from '60 Minutes' to countless TV stations. I guess for me, it was a bit daunting just trying to be a part of it. I let them know that what I was trying to do was different from what they may have been hearing from others. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that I was a student trying to do my homework at the time, and I was from Akron, and I think brought a level of trust over time. I wasn't a professional filmmaker.

Kris Belman

Coach
Dru Joyce

What were your initial reactions when Kris was around you shooting not knowing where it might go or who would see it?

Dru Joyce: When the public relations person at school came to me about Kris, we had circled the wagons, and we weren't giving out interviews at that time. And like Kris said, I liked the idea that he wasn't a professional. We had a professional come and spend four days with us, and it was all negative when it came to the press, and everyone, especially LeBron, we just wanted to protect him. I assured the guys that this was good, in terms of letting Kris shoot us and to let this happen.

Was there any hesitation from any of you about letting Kris shoot your home life?

LeBron James: He really just followed us at practice, the gym and on bus and road trips. It was intimate but not that intimate. It wasn't that hard to let him in.

Did he let you decide what you wanted in or out once you saw what he put together?

James: What you don't want to do is take away the work from the director. It's his mind, his project, his baby, so you want to let him run with it. At the end, you will either accept or reject it, but let him do his thing.

Willie McGee: Kris had a plan from the beginning. He wasn't trying to make a highlight reel. The story was there. It happened the way it happened. He just tried to be honest and true with how the story took place. I think that's important and a tribute to how he handled it.

LeBron James

What were you looking to get out of this when you first started shooting the guys?

Belman: It started as a school project, and I was trying to put together a 10-minute documentary for a class I was taking. And from the get-go, as soon I met these guys and saw how they interacted, they were so close. It was obvious from day one the relationship they have, and I realized that they have played together for so long. I knew there was something special here. As I got to know them further throughout the years, their individual lives were told on film as well, and I had to take this to the next level. That's where Harvey [Mason, Jr.] came in. I met Harvey through one of my good friends who was babysitting for him at the time, and she knew I was only taking meetings with people who are trustworthy and people who wanted to do more than focus on LeBron. That was the biggest obstacle. Everybody wanted to buy the footage and just make a LeBron highlight reel. That was never the intent. Harvey was the first person to share that vision with me. I think that's what made our partnerships so successful.

James: When Kris was around us, we never thought he was making what he had into a movie. He was doing this as a school project, and it was easy for us to be ourselves. Basketball was a way for us to be friends and hopefully does the same for those who see the film.

What does the title 'More Than a Game' imply?

Belman: Like Sian Cotton says in the film, whether it's basketball, or another sport, or another aspect of life, you can pick something and utilize it and extract all the positive things out of it. In this case, these boys and coach Dru used basketball to be good friends and grow as men. And coach Dru used basketball to teach the boys what it is to be men. It didn't have to be basketball, and that's why it's more than a game.

Willie McGee

Do all of you keep in touch on a regular basis?

Dru Joyce III: Not really. Willie is a working man, and LeBron has his crazy-busy schedule, and me and Romeo live in Germany, and Coach Dru still coaches. It's hard to keep in touch every day as much as we would like to. When we do talk and do catch up, the friendship is still there and the bond is still strong. Every time we get together like this, which is rare because we have different schedules, it takes you back to high school.

What do you think of the finished product?

Coach Joyce: It's great. Kris has done a great job. When I had seen the first trailer, I was in tears. I told the guys that I'm not holding back anything.

Where did the footage come from that shows the players as kids?

Belman: Families. It was a giant search, and it was fortunate that coach Dru's wife had taken a lot of footage, and Willie's family had contributed some footage. Coach Dru had said when I was looking for them that he thought it was in the basement or somewhere that you don't look normally look for in the house. We found some 50 more tapes after we thought we had enough.

How long did it take you to edit and put this together?

Belman: We were full-time editing for a year and a half. We did some reshoots in between, which affected the scope of the film. I've been going through this for about five and half years now, but once we had a professional staff, it took us one and a half years.
What do you want to people to take from watching the film?

James: That we did it the right way. That we won the right way. Coach Dru held us to high standards, and wouldn't settle for anything less. He really made us accomplish goals that we didn't even see at the time. Some people may have thought that we slacked a lot and got through school the easy way and things like that, but we really worked for everything we had.

Dru Joyce III &
Romeo Travis,

McGee: It's more than just basketball. Basketball just happened to be the tool. It could have football or baseball or the chess club or a work environment that's nine-to-five. One thing that kept us straight and tight was loyalty, friendship and a brotherhood, and if you are able to have that with a certain group, try to use this model, because we sought out a dream and made it a reality.

Romeo Travis :What I got out of this was coach Dru grooming us for life. I have a foul mouth, and he put in a rule going into our senior year that there's no cursing or using the n-word, which I used frequently. Every time a foul word was uttered, it would result in doing 25 push-ups, and one day I was really upset, and I lost it. I said four curse words in one sentence. He made me do 100 push-ups or I was off the team. I said I quit, and then we had a team meeting, and the guys were telling me I had to do the push-ups. I never did a 100 push-up in my life ever to this day except for that one time. I got to 97 and couldn't do anymore. Coach Dru said someone else had to do that last three and then we would be done. Things like just mold you for life. There are no shortcuts. If you break the rules then you have to pay for it.

Dru Joyce III: Just friendships. He told me a long time ago when I was young that it's important to watch the friends you pick and to pick out good friends. A lot of people don't have that. You need one good friend to depend on, and us five came together. With the support of family, and they don't get enough credit in the film, but they supported us and kept us together. When Romeo struggled to fit in with us, his mom was there to push him.

Coach Joyce: When everything is said and done, all you have is relationships and that's what it's about. With these guys and the relationships they formed, to see them now and still together, helping each other out and encouraging one another and wanting the other to be great at what they do, that's what's most important in life. Nothing else matters in the end.

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