Slant Magazine

Slant: And the same in the Iverson film too.

SJ: Yeah, in the Iverson film I kind of articulate that. I think, for this film, like Alex was saying with his book, the issue of urban violence has haunted me since seeing Bo Agee [the father of one of Hoop Dreams's two main subjects] murdered in 2004 and William Gates's [the other main subject] brother Curtis murdered in 2001 and seeing the devastating impact that both those senseless losses had on those families and those young men. So that was, for me, the personal part of this that made me want to engage with this and try to understand it, just like Alex wanted to understand it. So, yeah, I feel like every film should be an act of discovery.

Slant: For the filmmaker as well as the audience?

SJ: Absolutely. In fact, I think when a film works best, it is, for you as a viewer, the distillation of the years that we spent making it and all the discoveries we made and all the ways that it surprised us.

Slant: Alex, you've worked in newspapers and magazines and books, but is this the first movie you've been involved in?

AK: I've done TV. I used to be, years ago, a correspondent on the NewsHour and I've done some Frontline documentaries. This was my first film.

Slant: So how does this film compare to the other things you've done as a way of telling your story and getting it out into the world?

AK: There's a real power in doing intimate filmmaking. There really is a sense that you've really gotten to know the characters. My big concern going in, given my experience, was twofold. One, the last film I had worked on, we had a seven-member crew going in to film seven people. It felt incredibly unwieldy, even clumsy at times. It took away any sense of intimacy. And the other thing was that we would always—which is common in TV—go in and pre-interview people, so that took out all the freshness and spontaneity from what they said. What I appreciated, working with Steve, is that we kept our crew really small, just three of us: Steve with the camera, and myself, and Zak Piper, our co-producer.

SJ: Zak did sound.

AK: And for the interviews, we didn't pre-interview anybody, and they were long, often marathon interviews. I think you get the sense of intimacy [created in those wide-ranging talks] in the film. The other challenge with film is that you really have to be there. When I'm writing, I can sit in a room and reconstruct a scene without being there—

SJ: Yeah, I always used to complain: "That's cheating! [pretending to mock Kotlowitz] And then you make it sound like you're the-e-ere." Which is an art, really, to make people feel like they're there.

AK: So there was something exhilarating about that. For the course of the year when we were filming, we were on call 24 hours a day, essentially. You're going out at all hours of the day and night. And every time we went out, I felt like there was something new to discover. Another thing that's been a little scary and also exhilarating is that, when people read my books, they do it in private. If they don't like it, I'll never hear, and if they love it, maybe I'll hear from them, maybe not. But in the film, you're watching and listening to the reactions as the film unfolds.

SJ: But, I have to say, it's been mostly a blast—

AK: Right! It's been a blast! They get it. The final thing is that writing is such a solitary experience, and this was so much fun. I mean, it's fun to work with Steve, and then also with the interrupters. There's something to be said for having a collaborative experience.

SJ: Yeah. Film is an inherently collaborative experience, in the best sense. I must say, it doesn't get any better than doing this film, even though the subject matter at times was hard, obviously, and upsetting and depressing and tragic. The overall experience, and what we took away from it, was a blessing.

Slant: You think you guys are going to work together on something else?

SJ: Never. [laughs]

AK: We'll probably work together on something else. Probably a fiction film.

Slant: Really? [to James] You'd want to do a fiction film? You've never done one, have you?

SJ: Well, I've never made a strict fiction film because when Hollywood was willing to let me do some things, they were always biopics. I did the lowest-budget feature in the history of the studio system, Prefontaine, and then I did a couple of cable movies. But they were always biopics—and always sports biopics. That's what they would let me do.

AK: That'll change.

SJ: So, yeah, I would like to do a fiction film. We've talked about different ideas. 'Cause Alex wants to write.

AK: I want to write.

SJ: He wants to write a script. [pause] And I want to rewrite it. [laughs]

AK: That was a good one.

SJ: Well, they say writing is rewriting.