Filmmaker Evan Jackson Leong did not call up Jeremy Lin last February and ask to document his life once Lin became an international star. He had contacted Lin, and been turned down every time, routinely ever since contacting him around four years ago. So his documentary, “Linsanity,” that recently played the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, appears to be one of the best accounts of what life was like before and after the guard made it big in New York City.
Leong gives some insight into the movie in a teaser video on the film’s KickStarter page , which delves into how the 88-minute film tracked him starting when he played for Golden State.
Kind of like Lin himself, the movie is getting nice reviews now that it’s being given time and space to run. The movie opened to a standing ovation in Park City on the final day of the festival, though bad weather forced the Rockets’ plane to Salt Lake City to the ground in Colorado and Lin to miss the screening. He arrived to have dinner with the movie’s makers but didn’t get to take in the showing with teammates. That may have been a good thing, he said. Watching a movie about how you blew up in NYC after being cut by Houston, your current employer, qualifies as awkward. He told the Houston Chronicle:
“That would have been really weird,” Lin said. “My agent suggested I invite everybody in the organization. I was like, “that will be pretty awkward.” I was thankful because some of my teammates and staff members were excited to see it. I was like, ‘That’s really cool they would take the time to watch a documentary about me.
“It’s just crazy to think the New Jersey Nets game (that launched Linsanity) was less than a year ago. It’s crazy.”
Actually, I might be burying the lede here. When asked by the Chronicle about the documentary, Utah’s Al Jefferson revealed that if his story was going to be put into film, he wouldn’t want it to be a real-life documentary. He’s thinking more along the lines of animation.
“A movie won’t hold my whole life,” [Jefferson] said. “I have a lot to tell. I doubt I’ll do one. I’ll probably be on ‘Family Guy” as Peter’s half-brother.”
What do you think?
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