Hello all, I just wanted to share my experience with Kobe Bryant at USC. First off, I'm a diehard Rockets fan with a previous hate for the man. I can say after the screening and Q/A chatting with him that he's actually a cool dude. You can feel his competitive fire and so did the production team working on the film. He ragged a bit on how they would get in heated arguments in the production of this film and how it helped drive it to it's completion. He talked about his health and how he's geared towards next season. Talked about how he met Vanessa (his wife)... Yo, she's gorgeous. He didn't talk about Dwight. Was never afraid to answer questions. He ragged on Smush Parker so hard, "It's hard to succeed when you have Smush Parker's on your team... I had to be the man." Talked about the rivalry between the Celtics and Lakers in 08 and on. You can see Phil Jackson's influence on him (zen quality). Overall, the Q/A really made me respect the man for who he is. The doc was decent and the production team did a good job of telling Kobe's journey. It was cool. I shook his hand and chatted for a minute. Really genuine dude. Loves his family. We took a group picture with him. Spoiler
Kobe is the best. Almost God like. Do they show much interaction between him and the director Gotham Chopra? Or is the director off camera the whole time.
Gotham Chopra and Kobe have good interaction it seems. They cracked jokes quite often in the Q/A and in watching the film hundreds of times in the production of the film. He describes a situation where his son curses just like Kobe and they both busted out laughing. He didn't know whether to be happy of the moment or be mad lol. He called Kobe immediately after to tell him the situation. Gotham is a Celtics fan and with Kobe being a Laker fan there was competitiveness to be had. It was all playful though. Good relationship. Gotham doesn't physically make an appearance in the film.
Pretty cool. The doc was more than decent, it was excellent imo. The kind of access and insight one would never expect Kobe to give. He is a really chill dude all in all, the only times I've been around him was after NBA Games and he always had team security nearby as well as team pr. You all got some GREAT access to him. I did get to see Vanessa at Toyota Center after the 2013 ASG and like you said man, she is beautiful. Even more so in person than pictures. One thing I got from the doc was how much he loves that chick. I think if she had left him during/after the trial, he would have been a mess. Pretty dope though, USC film school and getting to be in on this q&a. I'm jelly bro.
