LeBron James has a story to tell and is doing it with a new movie. This week, Peacock released a teaser trailer for the upcoming film Shooting Stars which tells the story of James and his childhood friends becoming the No.1 team in the country. Shooting Stars begins streaming on Peacock on June 2, and James is a producer along with Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson, Terence Winter, Rachel Winter and Spencer Beighley.
In the trailer, James and his teammates talk about the good times they had playing high school basketball. Shooting Stars is based on the 2009 book by James and journalist Buzz Bissinger and takes a closer look at the group of childhood friends known as the Fab Five. James, “Lil” Dru Joyce III, Willie McGee, Sian Cotton and Romeo Travis deal with the challenges of high school athletics to help St. Vincent-St. Mary’s win a state and national championship.
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“When we got to St. Vincent-St. Mary, there were a limited number of Black kids,” James said. “We had to protect each other both within the walls and outside the walls of the school because we didn’t know who had our best interests.”
“We were fortunate enough to have our families and coaches,” McGee said. “We learned how to manage these challenges, and we learned how to lean on each other. You need family and friends, you need mentors because they have traveled the roads that we dream of crossing! And just being able to go to each other’s houses or apartments, because they were all keeping an eye on us, making sure everybody was all right—it takes a village. That’s a special thing.”
Shooting Stars is directed by Chris Robinson who previously directed the films ATL and Beats. “I just fell in love with the story of a small town and a group of friends who played basketball together since they were kids and then ended up winning a high school national championship,” Robinson said. “This little school in Akron, Ohio, with a group of friends who have played together since they were nine years old, were able to grow, be supported, raised by a village, and win not only the state championship but the national championship. It’s a pretty crazy story. This film is about brotherhood and loyalty, and sacrifice and dedication.”
The cast of Shooting Stars includes Wood Harris, Marquis “Mookie” Cook, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalie Paul, Algee Smith, and Dermot Mulroney, Khalil Everage, Sterling “Scoot” Henderson, Katlyn Nichol and Avery S. Wills, Jr.
