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Four-time NBA title winner Steph Curry can now call himself a champion in another arena – filmmaking. The Baddest Speechwriter of All, the short documentary Curry directed with two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Curry couldn’t attend the awards ceremony as he’s in the middle of the NBA season, but in a bit of additional good fortune, the hoops schedule takes his Golden State Warriors to Salt Lake City tonight for a game against the Utah Jazz. Proudfoot tells Deadline he and Curry will be able to celebrate their Sundance win together following the game. The Baddest Speechwriter of All centers on Clarence B. Jones, an attorney, adviser, and key speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Stephen Curry is a four-time NBA champion. But apparently, what he really wants to do is direct. Like many up-and-coming filmmakers, the Golden State Warriors star has premiered his first film as director at the Sundance Film Festival. “The Baddest Speechwriter of All” is a 29-minute short about Clarence B. Jones, Martin Luther King Jr.'s attorney, advisor and key speechwriter — and a Cupertino resident for the past two decades. Co-directed with Canadian filmmaker Ben Proudfoot, the movie premiered Friday, Jan. 23, in the documentary short film program at the 464-seat Library Center Theatre.
Curry, a big movie fan, has been credited as producer and executive producer on numerous films, sharing an Oscar with Proudfoot for the short documentary “Queen of Basketball” (2021). But he insisted on directing this project to help tell the story of Jones, now 95. “(Stephen) is very close with Clarence, and wanted to make this film,” Proudfoot said. “I am so honored that he called me to help make this movie, and it's been a real labor of love for both of us.”
It’s common knowledge that President Barack Obama is a basketball fanatic with a nice jumper. But did you know that late Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., could hoop, too? The story of how MLK and Obama used basketball to make connections is revealed in “Hoops, Hopes & Dreams,” a documentary debuting on Hulu today on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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“I liked everything about it,” Washington Wizards forward Khris Middleton told Andscape after the film was shown to his teammates at the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Jan. 8. “First of all, its basketball. Two of the most important people of our lifetime, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama are playing basketball and also using basketball as a vehicle to encourage people to come out and support their movements, what they were doing and support what they were fighting for. When I watched it at first, I was like, ‘There is no way Martin Luther King was a hooper.’ All hoopers love hoopers. We’ve seen the documentation and videos of Barack playing. But to know that Dr. King played is pretty cool.”
Middleton said it was a no-brainer to join as a producer after being invited by Alexys Feaster. Middleton said he has seen the movie five times and gave Feaster feedback after viewing it. His sister, Brittney, also was one of the producers. “Alexis brought this to my attention and I did some research on it,” Middleton said. “We sat and talked about it and I decided this was an easy, ‘Yes,’ with a lot of the things I’ve been involved in the past and was currently. I thought it was a perfect first film to produce.”
Patty Mills: First day of preparing for the 2014 NBA finals: LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and the Miami Heat. So I get to practice. You can't believe how intense this feeling is to be like, "We're back. All right, everyone, lock in." That's the feeling as you're driving the practice. Keeping it light but not too joking around. The clock is counting down before it goes off, and then we start, and sure enough, it goes off, and one of the coaches says, "All right, everyone in the film room, we're starting in the film room," which was probably understandable. So we all go into the film room, and I sit in the second row in the middle, Manu Ginobili behind me, always kicking me in the head or slapping my knee or playing some sort of game. But then we sat. So here we are, and you can feel the like the not tension in the room, but you could just feel like, all right, you know, what's the game plan here? You know, we're going to get this thing done. And Pops is at his table in front of the whiteboard and the TV, and he's looking down at the palm cards that he always has, and he looks up, and he looks at all of us, and he says, "Uh, do you know who does anyone in here know who Eddie Mabo is?" And straight away, like I got a lump in my throat, and I can only imagine what my face looked like, but I was just speechless. Is he asking everyone in the room who Eddie Mabo is? Eddie Mabo, in my culture, is a very significant person, and you put him up there with Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela and those types of people, and what he was able to do in Australian history for indigenous people. He's the one who really put indigenous Australians on the map, and what he was able to do. Overturn the land rights decision. And in my head, I was like, there's no way he's asking this right now. I thought this was going to be about LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
What stands out most in Gordon’s already one-of-a-kind warehouse gym home are the celebrity icons from different genres. Many are no longer with us. Gordon chose each specifically for daily motivation. A young Obama smoking marijuana. Einstein. Athletes including Serena Williams, Muhammad Ali, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Tony Hawk, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Pele, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Jackie Robinson. Dancer Josephine Baker. Actor and martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Musicians Billie Holliday, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Miles Davis, Bob Marley, Jimmy Hendrix, B.B. King, Notorious B.I.G., Nipsey Hussle, Michael Jackson and Mac Miller. Olympic activists John Carlos and Tommie Smith. Comedian Richard Pryor. Actor Heath Ledger. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Civil rights activist and Muslim minister Malcolm X. Filmmaker Spike Lee. Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Antiapartheid activist Nelson Mandela. Legendary sports journalist Stuart Scott. Poet Maya Angelou. “I got everybody there from Muhammad Ali to Bruce Lee,” Aaron Gordon said. “You have greatness looking at you. You can’t be [joking around]. It makes you want to not bulls—.”
Trump announced on Thursday the National Garden of American Heroes will include statues of African American icons. This was where he mentioned Bryant as one of the national figures. “Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali. Not a bad athlete, what do you think, Muhammad, not too bad, and the late Kobe Bryant. People love Kobe Bryant. We're going to save Tiger Woods for another time,” Trump said.
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“The time is always right to do what is right.” Dr. Clarence B. Jones, a speechwriter and lawyer for the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., became emotional as he reflected on seeing that quote from his friend on the back of T-shirts worn by Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics players. Seeing images of King on the Chase Center scoreboards at Monday’s game touched Jones as well. In what would have been another painful loss if it weren’t for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was honored to spend time with Jones afterwards, too.
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“[It’s a] Very challenging and somewhat difficult emotional experience for me to be here because as I look out, look at the signage quoting one of Martin’s more famous sayings and so forth, I also reflect on the fact that he’s not here,” said Jones prior to the Warriors’ loss to the Celtics. “Had he lived, he would’ve been 96 years old on his birthday, the 15th of January. I have been blessed with longevity. I don’t quite understand why, but I’m 94. I was two years younger. “So, as I sat in the arena and I looked at the signage and I looked at the T-shirts… This is capturing and reflecting on one or more of his more profound statements he made over his lifetime. It’s not too difficult to do the right thing.”
For the Warriors and the Celtics, it was an honor to play on the King holiday. “I always love playing on MLK Day,” Warriors head coach and former NBA guard Steve Kerr said. “It’s a very significant day for all Americans and I think the NBA has really adopted it as part of our culture and I’m very proud of that.” Said Celtics forward Jaylen Brown: “There are so many people that have come before us that sacrificed so much to push society forward, push equality forward. To be able to use my platform to play basketball and do what I got to do, it is the least I can do — just being able to praise those people who came before, who sacrificed so much of their lives, livelihood and family. “As long as I’m here, I’m going to continue to honor them for that because we still have a long way to go. But we’re thankful and grateful for the sacrifices they’ve made.”
Ohm Youngmisuk: Steve Kerr was asked about the coincidence of the inauguration coming on MLK Day. Kerr said he hasn’t watched any of the inauguration, spending time watching Celtics film instead. He talked about how special it is to play on MLK Day and all that it represents.