Basketball superstar and sports icon, LeBron James, alongside his business partner and media personality pal, Maverick Carter, will be bringing James’ story to viewers everywhere courtesy of Peacock. The streamer has struck a deal with the two partners of SpringHill Company to take audiences on a journey of James’ rise from a high school basketballer to one of the biggest names in the game. Shooting Stars will mark the first film of NBCUniversal’s four-year first-look deal with James and Maverick’s SpringHill, which was first announced back in September 2020.
Shooting Stars will be an adaptation of the 2009 book that James co-wrote alongside Buzz Bissinger. The feature will follow James as a young man getting his start on the court and will focus on his life as a high school basketball prodigy. Production is already underway in James’ hometown of Akron, Ohio and is being co-produced by Academy Award nominees Rachel Winter (Dallas Buyers Club) and Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street) in conjunction with SpringHill. Chris Robinson (Beats) is standing at the helm of the film as director and will be working with a screenplay adapted by Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier.
As for James, he’s still one of the top players in the sport currently shooting for the Los Angeles Lakers, where he’s been since 2018. His love for the game has, as of recent years, been competing with a newfound passion for the film industry, having starred in 2021’s Space Jam: A New Legacy, a follow-up to 1996’s Space Jam. Being constantly compared to Michael Jordan on the court, the film added even more wood to the fire with die-hard followers now also comparing the two for their skills in front of the camera.
Along with producing Shooting Stars, James and Carter’s SpringHill Company has been focused on finding the best stories and backing them as they make their on-screen turns. Currently, the company has its hands full of projects including a History Channel documentary surrounding the life of baseball great Jackie Robinson and a Disney+ series based on Kwame Alexander’s novel titled The Crossover. James and Carter had a documentary series titled Neymar: The Perfect Chaos, centered on the titular Brazilian soccer player, hit Netflix earlier this year.
When it comes to an origin story done right, who better to have backing production than the subject themselves? This will certainly be the case for Shooting Stars as it’s in the hands of its subject who will help guide his vision and story from a hoop-shooting whiz kid to one of the biggest names the NBA has ever seen. Although Peacock has yet to set an official release date for the film, we do know that it’s part of their 2023 slate of content.
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