NBA Legend Dominique Wilkins Buying Documentary About His Life (Unique)

The Human Spotlight Movie is getting the documentary therapy.

NBA legend Dominique Wilkins has dedicated to a documentary mission about his life and profession, partnering with the manufacturing studio Versus on the movie.

“I feel the objective is to go from no gentle to spotlight, you realize, spotlight being my nickname,” Wilkins tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview (his nickname, “The Human Spotlight Movie,” was because of his acrobatic slam dunks). “And what which means is that when all appeared to fail, and there was no gentle on the finish of the tunnel, to see my my struggle and my dedication to get to what I name my spotlight second in life.”

The mission will discover his total life, the hardships he needed to overcome in his youth, to his rise as an eventual hall-of-famer and the influence he’s had on the sport within the U.S. and abroad (the place he famously performed for Greece’s Panathinaikos in 1995-1996 earlier than returning to the NBA). Wilkins at the moment works because the VP of basketball operations for the Atlanta Hawks, the crew with which he spent most of his profession.

“Dominique will not be solely an iconic NBA famous person, he’s additionally a rare human being with a wildly compelling life story whose ascendance mirrors the town of Atlanta itself,” mentioned Mark Grande, head of originals at Versus. “We’re so stoked to assist share his unimaginable story with the world.”

“I need the documentary to be in regards to the man, in addition to the basketball participant,” Wilkins provides. “But in addition what helped me get to that time in life and a few of the struggles and the challenges I went by at a really younger age to also have a likelihood to play on the extent I finally performed on. Telling my story, popping out of Baltimore, Maryland and the tough streets that I grew up on, and to get by that, what I needed to endure.”

Emmy-nominated producer Daryl Spivey is on board as govt producer, as is veteran sports activities journalist and creator Robert “Scoop” Jackson, who will write the script.

Versus is at the moment out to administrators, with the objective of releasing the movie in time for the beginning of the 2024 NBA season.

“I don’t need it to only to be a tell-all story, however I needed to be a motivational story as nicely,” Wilkins says. “That you could fulfill your objectives, and you might be related in life, and there’s a place for you. Nevertheless it all will depend on how a lot work you set in, it’s what it’s gonna decide what you get out of it.”

The Wilkins mission comes amid one thing of a sports activities doc increase, with conventional patrons like ESPN competing with streaming companies like Netflix and Prime Video for access-driven initiatives.

In 2020, the Michael Jordan-led The Final Dance drew large numbers for ESPN (the pandemic meant that stay sports activities had been off the air on the time), and that development has solely continued, with Amazon’s newest sports activities doc Kelce (about Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce) delivering that service’s greatest viewers for a sports activities doc but.