Spike Lee is in attendance for tonight’s Oscars ceremony and he’s using his red carpet time to pay tribute to NBA legend Kobe Bryant. The 62-year-old filmmaker stepped into the event wearing a purple and gold tuxedo for the event. The gold lining on the lapels is framed by the numbers two and four on each side. On the back of his suit, the number sits proudly together as a simple nod to the man he enjoyed watch playing basketball. In recent years, Lee had actually seen the Lakers star become something of a colleague after Kobe captured an Oscar himself for Dear Basketball. But, their relationship goes back a long time as the director routinely watched Bryant torch his beloved New York Knicks.
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Back in 2009, the two worked together when Lee debuted a documentary about the NBA champion called Kobe Doin’ Work. The film premiered at the Tribecca/ESPN Sports Film Festival in May of that year. A lot of people got a kick out of being able to hear Bryant break down the game in his own voice years before the superstar got his own series on ESPN. There was also the fun of hearing him miked up for game action and seeing him playing in real-time. The Oscar-winning filmmaker talked to the network about the process of working with Kobe and what drove him to pursue the project.
“There was a great film on the soccer star [Zinedine] Zidane [“Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait”] that was done, and they had several cameras on him for one game,” Lee explained. “And I liked the whole “one game” approach and said, “I think this will work just as good or better for basketball.” We had 30 cameras for Kobe, had a mic on him, coach Phil Jackson let us come into the locker room to shoot, and with the help of commissioner Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver, [team owner] Dr. [Jerry] Buss, Jeanie Buss and again, coach Jackson, we were able to get it done.”
Spike Lee wearing a tribute to Kobe Bryant with his tux at the #Oscars. pic.twitter.com/iE4PawSaoW
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“I learned a lot,” he continued. “I mean, I think Kobe said it best in that the reason he wanted to do this was to really try to explain as best as possible, to the fans and people who follow basketball, what it entails to be a player. The preparation, the mental work, the communication skills, all of that stuff. An insight on what you have to do to be a successful athlete.”
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