![LENNYCOOKE[JOSH_HELLER]_3](http://rollingout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/LENNYCOOKEJOSH_HELLER_3.jpg)
ADAM SHOPKORN
In 2001, Brooklyn native Lenny Cooke was the number one ranked high school basketball player in the country. By all accounts a promising future in the NBA seemed to be within his reach. Lenny Cooke should have been a household name with the legions of Basketball Hall of Famers like LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. But something went terribly wrong. Shopkorn’s unbiased look at the player and NBA took over a decade to make.
How did you get involved? What drew you to the project?
I am a big sports fan. I was fresh out of college working for a film producer in New York. Through a NY Times article by Harvey Araton, I better learned that there were high schoolers who were making the “leap from high school into the NBA”. In 2001, all these guys were testing the waters and in many cases, teams were drafting players based on their pure upside potential. There was a real market for these kids and they were drafting them whether they were ready or not. I found that whole process to be interesting and I set out to find my subject Lenny Cooke. The story changed dramatically. It was not the film I set out to initially make, but I find the way Lenny’s story traveled to be a lot more interesting than what I originally planned for.
Is this your first feature length film?
Yes. This was my first film outside of the films I made in school. I brought in Josh and Benny Safdie, two highly accomplished filmmakers, to help me finish the film. This was their first foray into documentary filmmaking.
Were the “good guys/bad guys” influencing Cooke?
Yes. Most people in that world have an agenda and it is a pretty cutthroat business. At the end of the day, it is a business like any other. I met some very nice people along the way and I met some people who pretty much cared about Lenny Cooke because he was the number 1 High School basketball player in America back in 2001. Lenny told me that you really learn who your friends are when you are no longer in the spotlight.
What was the overall filmmaking experience like for you?
It was incredibly long, and drawn-out, frustrating, and incredibly rewarding. It was a rollercoaster. I came out the gate quickly on my own without having a lot of experience making films. I went out and was in the right place at the right time and shot this kind of iconic, historical footage of some of the best players in the game today 12 to 13 years ago. I had an idea of what I was getting back when I was getting it but the project kind of ground to a halt. I was worried I would never finish the film and I felt I needed to bring in some collaborators and that is when Josh and Benny came on board and helped me finally finish the film. I am happy that it is complete and people are getting a chance to see it. You don’t see many cautionary tale films like this. It is definitely a different beast than your traditional “talking head” documentary film.
Lenny Cooke opens November 29 and runs through December 5, 2013 at the Gene Siskel Film Center. For more information:
