A day-in-the-life doc on Kobe Bryant

I'm kinda upset that I'm late on this article, even though I knew about the documentary considering I catch EVERY Laker game...shame on me.

With Spike Lee in the house wearing his signature dark blue NY baseball hat, you'd think the Lakers were playing the Knicks instead of the Spurs. But Lee's entourage of more than 40 crewmembers, made it pretty clear that he was up to something more work-related. Turns out, he was filming a day-in-the-life doc on Kobe Bryant.

During the game, Lee stood courtside, grasping tightly to the small handheld camera in his right hand and peering up through his tortoise-shell rectangular glasses, watching every moment of LA's eventual 106-85 blowout over San Antonio, a victory that essentially secured them the top spot in the West.

Post game, Lee and his cameramen set up for the final scene of the day: "the walk".

"We've got to get him when he comes out," Lee directs. This shot will trace the long walk Bryant takes after his press conference, where he'll greet his family and make his way down the hall from the locker room to his car. It's not like Kobe will be surprised by the melee. Lee's been following Bryant around all day with his crew, which is now in position.

As they wait, Tim Duncan walks by, with his head down, clearly distraught over the loss. "What's up T?" says Lee. For the first time since the game turned in the second half, Duncan's face lights up with a huge smile.

"Hey man! How ya been?" he says.

"Staying busy," Lee replies.

A few seconds later Kobe emerges. "Here we go," Lee says, as the cameramen straighten up. Bryant greets his wife, Vanessa, who is sitting on a bench outside of the locker room with their two young daughters, Natalia and Gianna. The girls hold posters they've made that say, 'Daddy 4 MVP.'

A guy on a camera dolly is pulled backwards as Bryant walks through the hall doors, holding Gianna in his hands, with Vanessa next to him in black 4-inch heels, grasping her Louis Vuitton purse in one hand and Natalia in the other. Bryant signs some autographs for fans waiting in the hall and poses for a few pics as the camera crew jogs backwards. While Kobe and Vanessa pretend not to notice the 18 cameras surrounding them, 23-month old Gianna says, "I'm scared," to her dad. He tries to soothe her by singing Michael Jackson's "Beat It."

In the hall, they run into Tony Parker then continue "the walk" to Bryant's white Range Rover, which is waiting near the exit. All the while Lee's crew is rolling. Finally, with Bryant in the drivers seat, Vanessa rolls down her window and smiles as the car pulls out of Staples Center.

End scene.


Additionally, an interview with Spike Lee!

What made you decide to do a-day-in-the-life-of as opposed to a longer documentary?

I saw a film when I was in Cannes three years ago called Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait and in this game all the cameras focus on Zidane. I loved it and said, this might work better for basketball. Kobe is the first person I thought of so I got him a copy of the film. It was just a matter of figuring out the schedule. We had a lot of red tape; the league, the Lakers; I mean actually everybody was wonderful. Phil Jackson gave us access he's never ever done before.

What kind of access?

We were in the locker room when the press is not there. Kobe thinks of the locker room as a sanctuary. It's sacred. I would really like to thank Dr. Buss, Phil and the coaching staff because they went on like we weren't there, which is what we wanted.

How did you prepare for this?

We've had several meetings with all the operators. Friday we watched that Zidane film.

As a crew?

Yeah, we all love basketball and we know the game. Eighteen cameras were strategically placed. And it's too bad the game was a blowout but I still think it's going to be wonderful.

You were out there on the court with your own little hand-held camera.

The Spike cam!

You guys got here at six in the morning.

You have to film it all, you know? It's a lot of variables but I really trust my people and if anything happened we have the cameras and we're going to be in the action. Plus we had two still photographers.

Would you call this a documentary? It's kind of like a one-day documentary.

You know, it's a documentary, it's a portrait, I don't really want to get hung-up on what to label it as but I think it's going to be a good piece of work.

What are you trying to show in this film? Are you trying to highlight some of the misconceptions about Kobe or do you have a certain message?

No, this is dealing with the game. The game and the player. This specific day: April, 13th, 2008. Staples Center. Los Angeles, California.

What made you choose this game?

Oh, this is a very important game and next to the last game of the season. It's a very important game for the seedings and this was the soonest we could get. And also we knew that this was not going to happen during the playoffs. In the playoffs all things change.

You're like the biggest Knicks fan there is. Are any of the Knicks players going to be a little upset at you this?

Well, I don't think we'd get the money [to make a film about] Nate Robinson (laugh). Even though Nate's my man. No, Kobe's one of the greats of the game. We're just happy that this worked out.

Are we going to see a lot more sports films from you?

I'd like to, you know? Sports is better than movies, because with sports you don't know the outcome.

Courtesy of ESPN.com