Ryan Coogler “Stephen Curry: Underrated” Interview

Celebrity Wire

In this “Stephen Curry: Underrated” documentary interview, Ryan Coogler talks about the first time he met legendary NBA star Stephen Curry and what inspired him to want to do a documentary on him. Check it out.

Transcript

00:00 Oh wow, yeah, the first time I met him.

00:07 Well I went to a lot of games and I see him at the games.

00:11 You know, so I don't know if that counts as a meeting, but we will acknowledge each other,

00:18 you know.

00:19 But the first time we actually sat down, I think that might have come in 2018.

00:26 I think we had a meeting.

00:29 It was me, my partner at Proximity, Zinzi Kugler, my wife as well, and Steph.

00:38 Aisha was there.

00:39 We were at International Smoke, which is Aisha's restaurant that she has in San Francisco.

00:45 And yeah, I think one of Steph's business partners was there.

00:50 I think Little Cannon was there.

00:51 He was like a little carrier, you know.

00:54 I have fond memories of that, but that was the first time we sat down and spent some

00:59 time.

01:00 It was great.

01:01 Yeah, my creative relationship with Pete Nix, it goes back like about 11 years.

01:13 He was finishing a film called The Waiting Room, which covered Highland Hospital, which

01:18 is a hospital in Oakland with the city's trauma unit, kind of the only one.

01:24 He was observing folks who were coming in and out of the waiting room, emergency waiting

01:29 room, to be seen.

01:31 Beautiful movie.

01:32 And I was in the Bay trying to get my first feature film, Fruitville, stationed off the

01:37 ground.

01:38 And we had some scenes that took place in Highland.

01:41 I was trying to get access to the hospital.

01:42 And Pete, who I was introduced to through Michelle Turner-Saeyo, who worked with the

01:47 San Francisco Film Society at the time, we were introduced and got to know each other.

01:52 He helped our film get access.

01:55 We formed a friendship from there, where we support each other personally, professionally.

02:02 And eventually, after a few years of running Proximity, we were able to bring him on as

02:08 the head of nonfiction.

02:09 He's made a couple films for us as a director as well.

02:11 Oh, man.

02:12 I mean, I'm a Warriors fan through and through.

02:21 So everything about Steph's story, I'm in on personally.

02:24 My wife, Zinzi, is from Oakland as well, a big Warriors fan.

02:27 As I mentioned, Pete Nix lives in Oakland, been there for a couple decades, big Warriors

02:31 fan as well.

02:33 So we all in on Steph.

02:34 We love him.

02:35 We love his story.

02:36 But when we were approached by Eric Payton and Unanimous Media to partner in telling

02:41 his story, I got to know that Steph had made this promise to his mom to finish college,

02:47 get his degree.

02:48 And he wanted to take care of it in that upcoming season, that 2021-22 season.

02:55 And it was also a possibility that he might break the three-point record that year.

03:01 And also, they were interested in kind of talking about his upbringing around that elite

03:06 eight run.

03:07 And I thought that was just really exciting and an interesting way of looking at his story.

03:15 Some of that stuff I didn't know that much about, so I was intrigued.

03:19 And then once they bring Pete as a director, and he came on board, it really took off.

03:26 So I would say everything about his story was interesting, but the specific attack that

03:30 they were interested in taking was what caught my eye.

03:32 It's a great question.

03:43 I think every film is different.

03:46 This documentary had its own specific challenges, predominantly around access.

03:52 The subject is somebody who's still actively working.

03:54 He's not reflecting back on a career that happened years ago.

03:58 He was actually living it at the time.

04:01 And we had a Verite filmmaker in cinema.

04:04 Verite lives and dies by the amount of access that it has.

04:08 So solving that conundrum, I think, and working with Eric Payton and Tiffany over at Steph's

04:14 team, that was a lot of push-pull that we were going through.

04:19 And that ended up coming out really, really well.

04:22 We ended up being there in the right moments, and Steph was able to maintain his focus time

04:27 for him to achieve a goal of ultimately winning the championship, which we were fortunate

04:31 enough that he delivered upon while we were filming.

04:33 It was crazy.

04:35 And I think that when it comes to fiction films, we have a whole other list of things

04:43 to navigate.

04:44 It's usually just timing and the elements and making sure that you navigate in the politics

04:51 of all the money that's getting spent and everybody's expectations.

04:55 I wouldn't say one is easier or harder.

04:57 They just are incredibly different.

04:59 Steph was really open in terms of the archival and exposing that stuff.

05:10 We were able to get incredible things like video cell phone footage of the basketball

05:15 games from the Davidson stands during that run and childhood photography and videography

05:21 of Steph at home and playing basketball.

05:24 You can hear his mom screaming and what she was saying.

05:27 It's pretty fantastic what we were able to get access to, and I'm excited for the audience

05:31 to see.

05:32 I think in terms of our director, Peter Nick's vision, he sees this film as a testament to

05:45 the power of community, family, and mentorship and how those things played out in Steph's

05:52 life.

05:53 Ultimately, for him, the film is about the power of being seen, of being seen properly.

05:57 The title is underrated, but the film covers the people who actually didn't underwrite

06:01 Steph, the people who invested in him and saw what was there, what could potentially

06:08 be there, but also what was already there right there in the now.

06:11 I hope people take away from that the understanding that there's value in being seen and take

06:18 stock of the people who see you.

06:21 As it stands right now, see who you are, not just your shortcomings, but the things that

06:27 you have to offer.

06:29 Steph does a good job of taking care of those people who invested in him.

06:35 I think that every time he's out there on the court, he's trying to bring pride to those

06:39 people who were there for him and believed in him, whether it's Davidson, whether it's

06:44 his family, whether it's his coach, Coach McKillop, or whether it's the Dub Nation.

06:50 That is something I think everybody can relate to.

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