LeBron James’ story is proof that the people around you matter just as much as the journey.
This journey is depicted in Peacock’s new biopic film, Shooting Stars.
It follows the early years of LeBron James and his catapult to stardom throughout his high school career alongside the “Fab Five,” his core group of friends and their coach who all still remain close to this day.
“The film is representing that basketball is more than a game,” said Caleb McLaughlin, who plays Dru Joyce III. “It’s about friendship. And to me, it’s very spiritual. Like when they weren’t good, how it affected their game. When LeBron was drinking, how it affected his game, you know what I mean? It really represents that it’s not just about dribbling a basketball and putting it in the rim, it’s bigger than that.”
“I think it’s all about the village,” said director Chris Robinson. “LeBron James is this superhuman, superhero iconic person who’s reached amazing heights in his chosen sport. What really attracted me to the movie to begin with that is that we all go through this experience, right? We all have friends and we all have this village, where it’s great and if you wish there was a better village, we all have this process in life. And I think that when you’re on the same page when the reasons that you’re doing it are right, you can get results like what we see with LeBron James. And just the fact that he and all of his friends are still brothers.”
For Avery “AJ” Wills, who portrays Willie McGee, his hope is for a larger message about brotherhood to resonate with younger generations.
“I definitely think it will teach them that you can’t do it alone,” he said. ”I don’t think it’s going to tell you that you have to find your friends, or you have to find this type of friend. It’s just whoever you’re with [and] whoever you’ve been around your whole life. It just shows the path and the journey that they took together. And as teammates, basketball brings a big impact to brotherhood and friendship. The film is just gonna basically give an idea of the brotherhood and the friends that the Fab Five share.”
Khalil Everage, who portrays Sian Cotton, echoes that sentiment.
“The togetherness and being able to stick together when we see that a lot,” he said. “It was just Black love and Black love with friends. I’m kind of big on friendship and big standing ten toes with my brothers.”
Furthermore, Sterling “Scoot” Henderson says that the friendship group’s decision to welcome his character Romeo with open arms speaks to how much deeper it is than basketball.
“Them just fighting through their adversity was a huge thing for the team,” he recalled. “And just showing that they can get it done together and they don’t to go their own way. They don’t have to try to be selfish, because it was never that. Since they were younger and with Romeo joining. He came in and they got better as a team and kind of came into a collective agreement to where it’s together or nothing.”
And none of this would be possible without Coach Dru (Wood Harris), the man who brought them all together.
“I hope Coach Dru depicts, first of all, a father who also mentors other. Like, a strong, compassionate person with strength and compassion who had a hurdle dealing with a giant like LeBron James, who just ascends right in front of you,” Harris shared. “You might not know what to do with that type of energy. And so I just know Coach Dru, in real life, he’s such a great person. I hope people gathered that from this film. I hope they understand that he had a lot to do with nurturing all those boys. Their ideology is nurtured through their interaction with Coach Dru.”
Universal Pictures’ Shooting Stars is now streaming on Peacock.
