OAKLAND – Michael Jordan had Space Jam. Ray Allen had He Got Game. And now, Stephen Curry has Stephen Vs. The Game.
Maybe the Facebook Watch series, which debuts May 2, won’t have the commercial success of the two aforementioned basketball movies. But it will let Warriors fans take a peak into the life of one of the Bay Area’s most beloved athletes.
“There’s so much noise and chaos around us already,” Curry told KNBR’s Adam Copeland at the Oakland premiere of Stephen vs. The Game. “I really just wanted to own the narrative of who I am. My family, the people that have helped me get to where I am now. And to bridge the gap between the past, the present and the future.
“I feel like our story is still going. We’re chasing a championship this year. We want to keep it going for many years to come. But now is a good time to share a lot about what makes me who I am. It’s just me living my life, and just happen to have a camera around.”
Curry’s Unanimous Media partnered with Religion of Sport (a production company founded by Tom Brad, Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra) to create the series. Chopra is the company’s Chief Creative Officer, and also the director for Stephen vs. The Game.
This isn’t Chopra’s first time documenting the life of high-profile athletes. He also directed Kobe Bryant’s Muse and Tom vs. Time, documentaries two of the world’s biggest athletes.
“There’s a presence with Steph. When you’re working with him – he’s there. And not that those other guys aren’t. But I think they’re at a stage in their careers that they’re evaluating everything that’s happened,” Chopra told Copeland. “When you talk to him it’s not predigested.
“Kobe, I mean he’s amazing, but there’s no question you can ask Kobe that he hasn’t been asked a thousand times. Where Steph, it’s right in front of you. He’s reconciling it.”
It will be interesting to see how Chopra tells Curry’s story with so much left to be written.