It wasn't contentious. Gina wanted everybody to look like they could shoot. She ran her own course, and in the end, it was her story.
Shropshire: I think Mike De Luca said, "Giving you guys a second preview is like you getting an A on your test and then asking you for homework." We scored so high. The two hoopers first met during a tournament at North Carolina Central University back in 2011, when Johnson was playing for North Carolina State and Dorsett was hooping for nearby Johnson C. Smith. What I loved was that Monica didn't capitulate to him. Not only am I going to join this project, but you can direct me.". "[21], Love & Basketball was released in North America on April 21, 2000 to 1,237 theaters. Didn't know they were dating, though. The original ending was them on the blacktop, "double or nothing." Quincy's father, Zeke, is the star shooting guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. Which still could have been a great ending, but the fact that the WNBA came into existence at just the right time gave me an even better ending. ", Johnson interjects with his own recollection of their first interaction that Dorsett playfully dismisses as "the wrong version. With New Line Cinema, Prince-Bythewood was able to explore the lives of her protagonists, Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan) and Quincy McCall (Omar Epps), on her terms. I'm like, "Someone had me in mind." She made sure we all looked the part. Lena Waithe, famed writer and director (formerly Prince-Bythewood's assistant): People may assume that you come from a poor background ... but a lot of black people are working-class, middle- and [upper-]class people. We did a lot of dribbling techniques, shooting techniques, and running up and down the court [training for the film]. She's going to remember that for the rest of her life. Any chance we got, it was, "Let's play 3-on-3." He angrily knocks her down during game point, and accidentally cuts her face. The story and the life that audiences have concocted in their minds for these characters is a thousand times better than anything that I would come up with. "I got five bucks on her.". I was the girl who was playing basketball, or wrestling, or fighting with my brothers, stuff like that. Through soul searching, Monica learns to control her emotions and leads her team to the state championship game.
Magic Johnson and Cheryl Miller up on the wall. The rest is history. Diamond DeShields, 2019 WNBA All-Star, Chicago Sky guard: I admired seeing an African American love story. "[21] He also elaborates on the acting, stating "Omar Epps possesses a chiseled body and a blank stare [...] Lathan is only slightly better, but she's stuck in a hollow role. It's relatable. This was different. Once I talked to her on the phone, I said, "I will do whatever you say. Alfre Woodard, who plays Camille Wright, Monica's mother: This was one of the smartest, tightest scripts I'd ever read. While Monica earns the starting point guard spot at the end of the season, Quincy feels she was not there for him when he was having problems with his father, and the couple splits up. I put my sneakers on, waited for everybody to show up, and I was the only girl every day. Sandra Perez-Thomas, who plays Sandra, Monica's USC teammate: Hair and makeup hated us. It's About Time", "20 years later, the cast and crew of 'Love & Basketball' consider its legacy in an oral history", "Why We Keep Returning to 'Love and Basketball' 20 Years Later", "An oral history of 'Love & Basketball,' 20 years later", "Foul Shots: All's So-so in the Off-the-mark Hoop Drama, "Weekend Box Office Results for April 21–23, 2000", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Love_%26_Basketball&oldid=984390801, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, This page was last edited on 19 October 2020, at 21:22. Roberts: You're usually cringing when you see the basketball scenes or the athletic scenes on film. 1 for both of us then, so we didn't see love as that important. Having shot at the real Crenshaw High, where Monica and Quincy played, it was only fitting for the film to screen at the Magic Johnson theaters nearby at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. "What's revolutionary is that this amazing black woman can love both [basketball and her partner] equally and still be a woman," says "Queen & Slim" screenwriter Lena Waithe. Wow. It was just perfectly done. Prince-Bythewood: We went from an all-black audience to a 99% white audience [at Sundance]. Erika [Ringor], who played Sidra [Monica's USC teammate whose spot she took on the team], and I had the most competition.
Monica, on the other hand, struggles with her fiery emotions on the court, often resulting in technical fouls at critical moments of games, damaging potential scouting opportunities.
She tells me her whole generation, they love the film.
New Line had produced "Love Jones," which definitely was a love story, it wasn't about societal traumas. Collier: It really was how it is for [women] basketball players. They had a family, he fell into that role and they were cool with it. While Monica leads her team to a dominant victory in the championship game, she starts to realize that her love for basketball isn't the same as it was before. The film is produced by writer-director Spike Lee and Sam Kit and stars Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps. One of the craziest parts about the whole story is that Johnson and the future Mrs. Johnson have yet to see the movie together as a couple (they have seen it individually). We came from generations of strivers.
Even if you were in the working class or the lower working class economically, it was a very rich lifestyle in terms of quality of life and community.
Love and Basketball is about a young girl and boy that early in age fall in love with each other and the game of basketball. [20] Robert Wilonsky of the Dallas Observer gave the film a negative review, saying, "[it] is a film built upon transitions so weak and obvious it's astonishing the entire thing doesn't collapse on itself. Nevertheless, it grossed $27.7 million worldwide on a production budget of $14–20 million. Omar would come to her workouts. "So I came up, and the first week, I hated him. I had gotten the CD, and I played ["Fool of Me"] driving in to work, and that ultimately ended up in the movie. You turn and look and you see the person looking at you and then they look away. Monica accepts and they share their first kiss, but it isn't long before they insult each other and are rolling around on the grass fighting, with Monica clearly winning. Sanaa was training every day for three months with no promise of a part, and same with Niesha and the acting coach. I loved the fact that it was the woman who went on to achieve those specific dreams of playing ball and the man who took a step aside.
I might even beat you and maybe I'll kiss you, but first I'm going to knock you down. I'd played, but I wasn't a professional. Shropshire: I don't think we could ever meet the expectations [of a sequel]. Monica is playing professional basketball with an International Women's Basketball Association (IBWA) team in Barcelona. I knew I had to just go 150,000 percent in order to make it work, otherwise it could have been a bit cringey. It was a secret until they were on set. To have an emotional response like that when you're just sitting down with a script is special. It freaked me out. ", Her script somehow reached the heads of the Sundance Institute. It's something women and younger girls really hold dear. ", "It was like I could feel that somebody was watching me," Johnson said. Marion Jones read.
If there was any influence from the movie on the rest of their lives, that just makes me feel great. People are like, "If they're together, that means they won't have a chemistry."
To put that in perspective, if they had charged $10 per view, the video would have already surpassed the $27,459,615 the basketball classic grossed domestically. And Sanaa looked great in the movie and she could do things really well, like dribbling [two] basketballs at the same time. Prince-Bythewood, a former UCLA track runner who played basketball in high school, was working as a TV writer in the mid-1990s. Those characters' stories were told. Harry J. Lennix, who plays Nathan Wright, Monica's father: I met Gina through Reggie. I came from an underprivileged, single-parent household. I get a call from Sanaa's dad, my mentor, [Peabody and Tony award-winning producer] Stan Lathan, and he says I was damaging his daughter by putting her through this. But what makes the film so indelible is that it shows a female athlete challenging her partner, her sport and the status quo without being painted as a shrew, undesirable or any other limiting descriptor. I said, "I need you to come to the office, we're gonna sit and talk." I played ball, I had a child, I took some time off and then when I came back to play, my husband at the time was there in the stands taking care of the baby while I played.
You either have chemistry with somebody or you don't. She wasn't some perfect Hollywood Barbie doll. "These are the most important baskets of my life right here. But that's the kind of competitors me and him are. The film is produced by writer-director Spike Lee and Sam Kit and stars Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps. Melody Ehsani, designer, collection includes a Monica and Quincy-themed T-shirt: Most basketball movies feature a male lead, like "White Men Can't Jump." I was used to working on plays written by great authors, and that comes few and far between in Hollywood. Gina's the opponent diving for this ball. It's her favorite movie. It was this young-adult romantic drama with people who happen to be black. We look at all the latest offseason rumors ⬇️, Adam Silver tells teams they're 'running out of time' as league and NBPA struggle to agree on Dec. 22 start (Woj), @HughesNBA splits up star duos that just aren't working. Except no little boy would've pushed me like that. She looked like a ballplayer, and as she grew, she never lost her femininity. If I had kept it an R, I would've been an idiot. However, Monica has to work hard to establish herself, while Quincy is born with natural star potential.
I would never denigrate anyone who wants a sequel because that's dope. Like having Monica wear socks and slides after practice or game scenes because athletes need their toes to breathe. As a young person, I was, I guess, they called us "tomboys." Napheesa Collier, 2019 WNBA Rookie of the Year and All-Star, Minnesota Lynx forward: As a black girl, I could identify with Monica. Pratt: And the scene where you see Glenndon [Chatman, young Quincy] and me rolling down a hill, you can see him getting away and then me coming back after him. Ruth E. Carter, costume designer: Part of why this film has endured was because Gina ensured that it was authentic.
Anything we would do would tarnish the legacy. Prince-Bythewood: The only note from the studio was that [in the scene where Monica loses her virginity], she wasn't enjoying it enough. As the two struggle to reach their goals of playing professionally, they must also deal with their emotions for each other. Gina Prince-Bythewood: Anytime you see women playing ball on TV or in movies, it was so wack that it set women in sports back years. I saw your name in the credits. Since childhood, teenagers Monica Wright and Quincy McCall have wanted to be professional basketball stars. Growing up, I was the tomboy.