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I remember hearing about that..they were filming during a Spurs game...the Lakers won.
It's on ESPN Saturday night.
e Lee gets up close and personal with Kobe Bryant
Patrick Goldstein
While everyone else was watching the Lakers demolish the undermanned Rockets last night, I saw Kobe Bryant play an entirely different basketball game--a 2008 playoff game against the San Antonio Spurs that is the centerpiece of "Kobe Doin' Work," the new e Lee film about Bryant that premieres Saturday night on ESPN. It's for basketball junkies only, but the film gave me--a die-hard Celtics fan--a fresh insight into Bryant, who had until now struck me as something of an arrogant, it's all-about-me kind of superstar.
A longtime basketball fan who has season tickets for the Knicks, which allows him to watch a lot of great basketball players--all, of course, wearing visitors' uniforms--Lee had a great idea for a basketball film. What if you could watch a great player like Bryant at work, as if you were seeing the game unfold the way Jack Nicholson does, right at courtside? After selling Bryant and Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the idea, Lee brought 30 cameras to the April 13, 2008 Lakers-Spurs playoff game. He miked Bryant, so we can hear everything he says on the court, as well as in the locker room. The extra special touch (which evokes memories of "Gimme Shelter," Albert and David Maysles' landmark film about the Rolling Stones disastrous appearance at Altamont): Lee got Bryant to come into the studio after Lee had finished editing the film and offer a voice-over commentary, allowing him to explain what was happening on the court during the game.
For hoops fans, the results are fascinating. The game itself has little drama, ending in a blowout. But Kobe, as it turns out, is the team's on-the-floor coach, cajoling teammates, calling out plays (as well as alerting teammates to the plays the Spurs are running), suggesting strategy and, of course, engaging in some colorful trash-talking with the various Spurs who have the unhappy task of trying to guard him. You get to hear Bryant lay out the Lakers' fabled triangle offense in terms any layman could understand, especially since you can watch the team running the offense as Bryant is describing its impact on the game.
But perhaps the best part of the movie is how it allows us to see Kobe in a different, less harsh light. He has a devilish sense of humor and an unselfish desire to get his teammates into the flow of the game, knowing it will help both his game as well as smooth the team's path to another victory. It's almost as if the Spurs are Kobe's straight men. At one juncture of the game, Tim Duncan, the Spurs' All-Star big man, takes forever to get set and shoot a free throw. Coming back down the court, Kobe ribs him, saying, "Ten seconds, Tim." (He adds, on his voice-over:"[Waiting for Duncan to take a free throw] is like being at the longest stoplight in the world.")
When Damon Stoudamire, the Spurs' smallest player, enters the game, Kobe cackles: "There's a mouse in the house!" After a referee calls a foul on one of the Lakers, Kobe sidles up to him, hissing "You sure about that one?" When Kobe gets a little out of control, driving to the basket, one of the Spurs' forwards does a marvelous job of taking a charge, saddling Bryant with a personal foul. As they run down court afterward, Kobe says, "I should've known your ass wasn't gonna move." Sitting on the bench, getting a blow, he teases teammate Sasha Vujacic in Italian, saying "Why don't you want to shoot the ball? I thought you had bigger cojones that that!"
Hearing him discuss his own play in the game, you feel as if you're experiencing a thoroughly disarming performance. Kobe admits mistakes: When he misses a shot near the basket, he groans: "Awgh, I bobbled the damn ball!" Watching himself give an interview as the time heads for the locker at halftime, he explains: "You're just trying to catch your breath and not sound like a complete idiot." He is especially respectful toward Jackson, who spends even more time than Bryant watching game films, figuring out the opposing teams' weaknesses. "It's made me a better player to have a coach that's so detail oriented," he says at one point. "I basically grew up under his system and what he taught me.... Sometimes Phil and I [are so in sync] that we call out the same play without knowing each other has done it."
If you're a Lakers fan or, like me, just love basketball, this is a must-see movie, because you not only get to see the game from the inside out, but you get to pick up a few tips from a great basketball mind--Professor Kobe Bryant.
Here's a few choice scenes from the film:
I remember hearing about that..they were filming during a Spurs game...the Lakers won.
At one juncture of the game, Tim Duncan, the Spurs' All-Star big man, takes forever to get set and shoot a free throw. Coming back down the court, Kobe ribs him, saying, "Ten seconds, Tim." (He adds, on his voice-over:"[Waiting for Duncan to take a free throw] is like being at the longest stoplight in the world.")
LOL..guess he forgot about his teammate Karl Malone..
Bryant provides insider's view of game for Lee
Bob Wolfley | SportsDay
The idea of "Kobe Doin' Work" was to do ent a single game played by Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant to show how the National Basketball Association's best player conducts his business of play.
What emerges is sometimes revealing and sometimes static, not unlike some NBA games.
On April 13, 2008, filmmaker e Lee positioned 30 cameras and multiple microphones around Staples Center, the Lakers' home court, to capture Bryant's play in a game against the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers won in a blowout. One of the Spurs best players, Manu Ginobli, did not play because of an injury.
The outcome of the game rested more with Bryant's teammates than with Bryant, who did not play the entire fourth quarter.
The Lakers were playing for the best record in the Western Conference, and the home-court advantage for all series against conference opponents. Bryant also was aiming for his first most valuable player award.
"Kobe Doin' Work" is a replay of that game in real time, with Bryant in voiceover explaining to Lee and to viewers what he's thinking or explaining why he's saying certain things to his teammates during the game.
The voiceover part apparently was recorded in New York just after Bryant scored 61 points against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, a building record.
The single neatest detail about Bryant's game this viewer learned from Lee's 85-minute piece concerns Bryant's hands.
Frequently during games Bryant will wipe his palms and fingers on his jersey. He wipes them not to dry them off, but to make them wet.
"The reason I do that, when you see me wipe my hands on my shirt, is because my hands are dry," Bryant says. "When your hands are dry, the ball gets slippery. You can't really feel it. So I am constantly trying to wet my hands so I can feel the texture of the ball better."
Now that's unusual.
Other than some pitchers and quarterbacks who lick the tips of their fingers, when was the last time you heard an athlete say he's looking for a wetter grip?
Always, it's precisely the opposite.
In fact, Cleveland's LeBron James with his home-game ritual of creating a resin plume right before tip-off is a testimonial for dry hands.
Another striking element of Bryant's way is how much he communicates with his teammates on the floor, during breaks on the bench and in the locker room at halftime.
You're left with the impression that Bryant does as much coaching of his teammates as Phil Jackson and his staff does.
"I didn't realize I talked that damn much," Bryant tells Lee in the first half of the replay.
There are a few more interesting inside basketball moments in "Kobe Doin' Work," but some of what Bryant says is self-evident or Basketball 101 stuff.
"When I put arc on the ball, I'm a much, much better shooter," Bryant says.
"That's one thing I hate, turnovers," he says. "I absolutely hate turnovers."
At one point, he explains what an empty possession is.
Since Bryant did not play in the fourth quarter, Lee quizzes Bryant about his record-setting performance against the Knicks.
There are artsy elements in "Kobe Doin' Work," including stutter replays of some of his best moves, and a visual shift in which game action is stopped and framed in black-and-white images.
You have the sense Lee was trying to find the music of basketball in the squeaking of the players' shoes. Bruce Hornsby's score features some jazzy keyboard work in rhythm with the edited version of the game.
"Kobe Doin' Work" airs commercial free at 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN and ESPN HD.
MEDIA: 'Kobe Doin' Work' shoots and ...
By Tom Hoffarth
The image is of Kobe Bryant, about to shoot a pair of free throws with the Lakers trailing by five late in the first quarter of their April13, 2008, regular-season finale against San Antonio.
"What's cool about this," Bryant says, narrating the e Lee do entary, "Kobe Doin' Work," "is that I don't think fans understand the amount of communication and execution that goes into the game of basketball, at least on our end."
A few frames earlier, he was yelling over to teammate Pau Gasol. Bryant indicated that he'd plant himself at the top of the left side of the free-throw circle when the Lakers went back on defense.
"Phil (Jackson) and the coaching staff preach that to us," Bryant's commentary continues. "It's all about execution ... you have to be emotionally invested in the game, you have to play hard and all that other stuff ... play with a lot of energy ... but you gotta execute and I think that's what's great about your team, you know, we have smart players on our team. You talk about execution all the time. You can't stress that enough."
Seconds later, after Bryant makes both free throws to pull his team to within three, he goes to the preplanned spot on the court. He looks like a genius - the Spurs' inbounds play goes awry.
Bryant intercepts a pass intended for Tim Duncan, takes a dribble, floats toward the rim, then tries a reverse layup around Duncan.
He misses it.
He lets out a crazy scream. The ball is fumbled over back to the Spurs, who start a fastbreak the other way.
"That's doin' too much," Bryant says in the commentary, after a long pause. "That's just a dumb play by me. That is a dumb play ... Should have laid the ball up ... Damn it."
Moments like these, you tend to like Kobe Being Kobe even more than you'd care to admit.
It's Kobe Doin' The Right Thing, followed by Kobe Doin' Too Much On His Own - a storyline Lakers fans might not need to have do ented so professionally, but there it is.
This 83-minute ESPN Films project, which the all-sports network was able to debut earlier this month at the recent Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival in New York and will air without commercials for the first time on its networks Saturday (5p.m. on ESPN; 7, 9 and 11 p.m. on ESPN2), accomplishes several things.
For Kobe, it's another part of his Image Revitalization Project - getting the fans back in his corner, believing he's more the mature league MVP from last season based on his unselfish play and leadership skills.
For Lee, the famed urban moviemaker and die-hard New York Knicks fan, it's satisfying his Basketball Jones. Plus, he has got an in with the NBA on future projects, since NBA Entertainment is a co-producer of the project.
For ESPN, it's another way to cannon-ball further into its film-making business, leading up to the launch of a "30 For 30" project later this year - giving 30 noted directors a chance to tell the story of 30 sports-related events over the past 30 years ESPN has existed.
Thirty was also the number of cameras that Lee had to record Bryant's every triumph and turnover in that contest against the Spurs. It was coordinated with an ABC crew's game coverage, but most of it was shot from specially trained cameramen, including Lee, and two more from NFL Films who were recruited.
Bruce Hornsby adds an original score, "Levitate." And even Stephen A. Smith makes an appearance.
Yet with all that star power, the film still manages to underdeliver a tad.
The most interesting angle to this story seems more about all the access Lee was given by the league, team and, maybe most importantly, Jackson.
"Here's the thing," Lee explained recently to reporters. "The only reason why Phil Jackson and Kobe and Dr. Buss gave me access to all this is because they know how much I love the game and I know what I'm talking about. If I was Joe Blow off the corner, and not a well-known filmmaker, that'd be hard. They wouldn't trust someone sticking a mike in their face. You gotta have credibility and in the sports world, especially basketball, I have that."
With that come higher expectations. Some were met.
Perhaps the game didn't cooperate. A 21-point Laker victory meant Bryant spent most of the final quarter on the bench. So Lee ends up over the last part doing a chatty Q&A with Bryant about his 61-point game against the Knicks. The reason: Bryant and Lee taped the narration part of the project just a couple hours after that contest in February, so both were still buzzing about it.
Imagine Bryant's mood if the Lakers had lost that game.
Perhaps Kobe really isn't the best one to describe what he's doing on the court. He doesn't have the best broadcast-quality voice - it's OK if this was an extra feature on a DVD, but it's the film's main audio source.
Perhaps the audience isn't expected to be all that basketball savvy. How does the Lakers' triangle offense work, with the spacing? It's talked about, but there's no real insight. Instead, it's as if you're allowed to sit in a film room and listen to Kobe talk about Kobe.
Which is cool. To a point. Because there are times when Bryant does reveal more about himself. And we're grateful for those moments, as Lakers fans will be who invest their time in watching (or even buying the DVD for $19.95 when it goes on sale Tuesday).
"This is funny watching this," Bryant says at one point, after the camera and microphones catch him rambling on instructions to teammates during a timeout. "I didn't think I talk that damn much."
Which is why ABC will probably not be shy about asking him to wear a wireless mike when he's on the TV screen for Sunday's game.
Kobe Doin' Work fails to expose any insights into the Lakers star
Adam Duerson
SI.com
It requires a tricky balance of luck and preparation for a truly fantastic do entary to come together, and when that doesn't happen -- a subject clams up or proves uninteresting; perhaps the drama simply never unfolds -- most projects get sent to the scrap heap. Or, in the case of Kobe Doin' Work, they air on ESPN.
In April of last year, director e Lee fixed 30 cameras on soon-to-be MVP Kobe Bryant to do ent a late-season showdown with San Antonio for first place in the Western Conference. Needless to say, the production (which premiered recently at the Tribeca Film Festival and will air on ESPN on Saturday at 8 p.m.) took endless preparation as well as the approval of Bryant, the Lakers and coach Phil Jackson, whose locker room would be part of the picture. And for pulling all of that together Lee -- or, more likely, a legion of Lee's lackeys and wranglers -- deserves a pat on the back.
As fate would have it, though, the work was all for naught. The Spurs ended up playing the entire game without Manu Ginobili or Robert Horry and ultimately suc bed to L.A., 106-85. (One can't help but imagine Lee on his knees in the San Antonio locker room, imploring Ginobili to play through the pain. "The show must go on!") Meanwhile, Bryant spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench, icing his sore knees. These aren't the kinds of breaks that made Hoop Dreams what it was. This, folks, is exactly what we've come to expect from a regular season NBA game. And that's why so few of us actually watch.
If there were ever any chance at salvaging this particular opportunity, Bryant and Lee simply weren't the duo to make it happen. Lee, for his part, put together an altogether not-so-amazing basketball movie. We've seen NFL Films churn out better stuff a million times, so it's hard to be impressed by Lee's access alone. And for all we've heard about how much of a workaholic Kobe is, it's disappointing to start the film with Kobe's arrival at the Staples Center and end on his departure in an SUV. Just five minutes at his house -- or in his car for the ride home -- would have done wonders for the production. Even the locker room access feels abbreviated and heavily censored. That bring us to the subject himself: Kobe.
In the wake of this film's April premiere at Tribeca, word leaked out, via the New York Post, that Bryant had demanded, and secured, creative control of the picture. Whether that actually happened is irrelevant; all that matters is that, indeed, Doin' Work is a neutered take on one of the more intriguing players the NBA has to offer.
On some levels it appears Bryant is doing the censoring first-hand. He narrates over 80 minutes of game footage and yet the only hints of personality we get are lame bits like, "I'm so amped up just watching this!" On five occasions we hear Kobe talk about how "fun" the game is. And even when he's seen sparring with Bruce Bowen, arguably one of the league's dirtiest players, we hear Kobe remark, "A lot of people hate playing Bruce. I love it! I think it's fantastic." Great! This movie is fun!
But it's not. Whether it happened this way, Doin' Work feels as if Bryant recorded his narration in one half-hearted take. Kobe doesn't really seem to grasp what insight he might possibly be offering until well into the second half of the game. Until that point he passes the time with lame observations like -- I kid you not -- "basketball is somewhat of a chess game; you've got to think things through a little bit." Meanwhile, we observe Kobe joking in Serbian (clearly vulgarly) with Sasha Vujacic or calling out, for example, play number "5C". Yet he declines to expound upon either scene.
In the second half, Bryant grows a little more comfortable in explaining, for example, the Triangle Offense. And now we've hyperdrived into an X's and O's pic. (Bizarrely, the director, who's sat out the entire film to this point, chooses this opportunity to inject his narrating voice with lame questions and conversation about, predictably, the Knicks.) So who, e Lee, is this movie intended for, anyway?
Whether he intended it or not, Lee has delivered a lame but loving homage pic. Even then, we miss out on the most interesting aspects of the character. Love Bryant or hate him, there's a fascinating movie to be made in spending a whole evening with one of the most sure, prickly and talented players in the NBA. Lee just missed out on the chance.
I'm really looking forward to this. Love him or hate him, Kobe is a fascinating guy.
why wcouldn't they make this segement aganst the celts in teh finals, rather than the spurs.
e Lee on Kobe Bryant
By S. James Snyder
TIME
Tune in to watch a New York Knicks basketball game and you may see e Lee trash-talking opposing stars from his courtside seats. Next to filmmaking, basketball is one of the director's greatest loves, and with his focus increasingly shifting toward nonfiction features (When the Levees Broke, Passing Strange), it was only a matter of time before Lee got around to shooting some hoops. (See pictures of Star Trek's best villains.)
Kobe Doin' Work is his do entary about Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant that is set to air on ESPN at 8 p.m. E.T. on May 16. Billed as a "game in the life" of one of the NBA's best players, Kobe Doin' Work could just as easily have been led Kobe on Kobe, as Lee brought the guard into the studio to record his own commentary track. (See TIME's photo-essay "Magic Johnson: A Life in Sports.")
For the do entary, filmed during a 2008 playoff game between the Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs, Lee used more than two dozen cameras and a microphone Velcroed to Bryant's jersey to capture the action on the court. Behind the scenes, viewers also see Bryant's tranquil pregame routine and his interactions with head coach Phil Jackson during a halftime chalk talk. TIME spoke with Lee a week after the do entary's world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival:
How did this project come to be? Why basketball and why Kobe?
I had seen a soccer film on the great [Zinedine] Zidane [Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait], and in that film they had numerous cameras following him. I saw it and thought, This is good — this might work well for basketball too. It was obvious that Kobe was going to win the MVP last year, and it was obvious that the Lakers would make the NBA Finals, so I gave the soccer film to Kobe, and he said, "Let's do it!"
After going through all your footage and watching this game from so many angles, do you watch basketball differently now?
Well, I've always done that. From my seats at [Madison Square] Garden, I'm always looking at what's happening on the bench and the interplay between the coach and the players — especially when a coach takes a player out. I'm looking at the player's reaction at being pulled from the game. (Watch TIME's video "A Free Lesson With: Kobe Bryant.")
When Kobe talks about the decisions being made on the court, you really bring to life the notion of a game as a chess match.
Kobe was very professorial in breaking down the game. His commentary is one of the main components of this film. You do a lot of that as a director on a DVD — recording commentary — and I knew I wanted him to do this from the very beginning. When he finally had time to do it, it was right after the game where he had scored 61 points against the Knicks this year. So he was in a pretty good mood.
Were you surprised by anything that you saw in the editing booth that maybe you didn't catch during the game?
He is a true leader. I think I knew this already, but it was really validated as you watched the team. These guys look up to him, and it's genuine. A lot of times, you might have a guy who scores the most points but who isn't the spiritual leader of the team. Kobe is, and you see it here time after time.
Most of this feels as though it's in real time. You stick with the tempo of the game and let the action do the talking.
That's the great thing about sports. It's not scripted. But I'll tell you, I had a sleepless night the day before precisely because it's not scripted. What if Kobe got into early foul trouble or was thrown out of the game? That would have been disastrous. (See the 100 best movies of all time.)
I was amazed at the serenity of the locker room during halftime.
Yeah, I had never been in that situation, but I knew it had to be a piece of the film. As a fan, I've always wanted to be a fly on the wall and hear the coach talk to the team as they make adjustments and look at video. Phil Jackson wasn't miked, but it was fascinating to watch the interplay between the superstar of the team and the coach. If you're a coach, you need to have a key player buy into your system. You need to have trust, and here's Kobe, performing the same duties that Michael [Jordan] did in Chicago.
The New York Post reported that Kobe demanded creative control over the project. Did he have to approve the commentary?
All of that stuff is a New York Post fabrication, and that's all I'll say about it. There's nothing but love between Kobe and I — there's nothing [to the Post report].
Did Kobe comment on things in the game that you hadn't seen, in all your editing?
There were a couple times in the game where he was open but deferred and gave the ball up to Derek Fisher or Sasha Vujacic — guys establishing themselves. I was surprised when, during his commentary, he said, "If the game gets tight, I'll still have that shot in the fourth quarter, so no need to show my hand this early."
I can just imagine all those people at home watching TV and yelling, "Kobe, why didn't you take that shot?!" But he made that decision very consciously.
[Laughs] That's why they're at home watching TV and Kobe is the MVP of the league!
I call BS on this one. Kobe nowadays seems very very involved and careful about what the public sees of him, especially since that whole rape thing still hangs over his head. I'm sure that Kobe demanded creative control before he ever agreed to this project.
Bump, it's on tonight.
"Kobe Doin' Work" airs commercial free at 7 p.m. Saturday on ESPN and ESPN HD.
So far pretty boring.
I like hearing what's going on on the court. I'd like it more if Kobe wasn't narrating quite so much.
But I like it. It's a look at the game we don't get too often.
if i want to see some fake stuff and be entertained id rather watch a movie.
I liked this.
Kobe on Duncan:
"What can you say about Tim? He's the greatest power forward to ever play the game. Period."
That was nice. So was teh comment on Ginobili in the begining. So far the only things that I have enjoyed are Kobe complementing spur players. that's about it. lolI liked this.
Kobe on Duncan:
"What can you say about Tim? He's the greatest power forward to ever play the game. Period."
i wonder how many times kobe jacked off watching this tonight
Kobe just following his Michael Jordan handbook
- e Lee and Michael Jordan did a lot of stuff together
*kobe checks off a list*
- e Lee and KOBE BRYANT!! twenty fo! did some together
I had to go someplace and only watched the first half, but I really liked what I saw.
I was expecting it to be more contrived; more BS about Kobe's day before the game, more about the pre-game Phil stuff, etc. And even if Kobe was maybe hamming it up a bit more than normal with his teammates, it was pure basketball and I thought the narration/camera work/game sound was damn interesting. I'm going to start the second half now.
I liked it too. I did find his narration distracting at times. Kind of liked hearing just the sounds of the court.
zzzzzzzzzzzzz e let me down.
I'm not sure what I expected from Kobe Doin Work, but this wasn't it. Even so, it was pretty interesting.
I was actually really disappointed by Kobe's commentary, because I wanted so much more from it. Some of it felt like empty talk, like he was just trying to fill in the silence. Alot of it seemed like he just didn't have time to say much because the game action was already moving in the other direction.
I'd also much rather would have seen them stop down and let Kobe do a fully detailed breakdown of certain key plays, and skip over alot of the more boring parts of the game. Trying to cram an entire game into a 90 minute do entary didn't work.
Overall I liked it tho
Also, very happy that the "other people being interviewed to knobslob Kobe" parts were kept to a minimum.
Exactly. A pathetic effort from both parties.
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