Teaser Trailer for ‘Shooting Stars’ Movie About LeBron in High School

Teaser Trailer for ‘Shooting Stars’ Movie About LeBron in High School

by Alex Billington
April 24, 2023
Source: YouTube

“It’s not how you start the game. It’s how you finish.” NBC’s Peacock has revealed a first look teaser trailer for a film titled Shooting Stars, a docu-drama event about LeBron’s high school days. Based on the book by LeBron James and the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Friday Night Lights, Buzz Bissinger, Shooting Stars is the inspiring origin story of a legendary basketball superhero, revealing how LeBron James and his childhood friends become the #1 high school team in the country, launching James’s breathtaking career as a four-time NBA Champion, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. The film stars Wood Harris, newcomer Marquis “Mookie” Cook as a young LeBron, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalie Paul, Algee Smith, with Dermot Mulroney, Khalil Everage, Sterling “Scoot” Henderson, Katlyn Nichol, and Avery S. Wills Jr. This reminds me of Ava DuVernary’s Kaepernick series, mixing in the real LeBron himself talking about his youth with dramatic recreations starring young actors. Looking good so far, though I’m curious how they’re going to pack this story into one film, not as an extended series.

Here’s the first teaser trailer (+ poster) for Chris Robinson’s Shooting Stars, from Peacock’s YouTube:

In the 1990s, a young LeBron James (Marquis “Mookie” Cook in his screen debut) and his three best friends — Lil Dru (Caleb McLaughlin), Willie McGee (Avery S. Wills, Jr.) and Sian Cotton (Khalil Everage)—called themselves the “Fab Four,” after the famed Michigan Wolverines’ “Fab Five” of that era. From the moment we meet them, we realize this group of friends, under the guidance of coach Dru Joyce (Wood Harris), is connected by more than basketball. So, when the coach at the top basketball school in their district threatens to separate them by putting Lil Dru on junior varsity, the Fab Four decide to switch schools to be able to play varsity together, joining the team at a predominantly white Catholic school instead. The community takes this as an insult, but the boys’ dedication to each other is more important than anything else. With their new coach (Dermot Mulroney), a disgraced former college coach seeking redemption of his own, the boys, along with former rival and new teammate Romeo Travis (newcomer Sterling “Scoot” Henderson), will face battles not only on the court but in real life, in their quest to become national champs, will rediscover that what matters most about the game is the people playing beside you.

Shooting Stars is directed by Emmy-nominated American director Chris Robinson, director of the film Beats, plus episodes of TV series “Star”, “American Soul”, “Black-ish”, “Grown-ish”, and “Woke” previously, as well as tons of other music videos and short films. The screenplay is written by Frank E. Flowers (Metro Manila) and Tony Rettenmaier (Space Jam: A New Legacy) & Juel Taylor (Creed II). Based on the book “LeBron’s Dream Team” written by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger. Produced by Rachel Winter, Spencer Beighley, LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson, Terence Winter. Universal/NBC will debut Robinson’s Shooting Stars streaming on Peacock starting on June 2nd, 2023. First impression? Who’s in?

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