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The Fab Five (from left, Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton, LeBron James, Willie McGee and Romeo Travis) with Coach Dru Joyce II (front, centre). (Maple Pictures) Q: How did you hook up with this team in the first place?

A: I'm from Akron originally. But in my junior [third] year of college I transferred to Loyola-Marymount University in Los Angeles to study TV production. I wound up in this "Introduction to Documentary Filmmaking" class, kind of by default. I was given a 10-minute assignment. So I thought, all right, I'm going to go back to my home town, make a film about where I'm from, and show my classmates that Ohio is more than Amish country.

I also remember reading an article a couple of years before that, and one of the paragraphs really stuck in my head. It was about the team, and it said that four of the five boys had played together since the fourth grade. And that really struck a chord with me, the fact that they had made a pact that they were going to go to high school together. These were four African-American kids from the inner city, and they ended up at a predominantly white private school. That's not an easy decision by any means. That shows such a sophistication to me, that a lot of people even later in life don't have in their friendships. And so I was determined to focus on that for this ten-minute project, that friendship and those players — that was kind of the spark of it all.

Q: Was it tough to get behind-the-scenes access?

A: I didn't hook up with them until their senior [fourth and final] year. So at [that] point, LeBron James was already a phenomenon in the sports world and that's what made it hard to become part of his world. I went back to Akron, I had my camera equipment, but I couldn't get anyone to call me back.

At this point, they're turning down a lot of media requests, shutting down practices to the media, but after about three weeks I finally got the public relations director on the phone. I remember she said, "All right, I'll set you up for a meeting with Coach Dru, we can't promise anything — he's turning down a lot of stuff. Just so you know, we turned down 60 Minutes this week and LeBron just turned down Letterman."

I'm thinking there's no chance they're going to give this college kid a shot. But I went in there and I said, "Hey, I'm from Akron, I'm just trying to get an A on this project, and this isn't just about LeBron. This is about these five guys." And I think that's really the key to it. I think they liked the fact that I was from Akron, but I think the fact that I was focused on these other players, that really struck a chord with Coach Dru. He gave me access to one practice, that's actually how it started.

Q: How did you manage to stretch that out?

A: I wasn't supposed to come back but they never told me to leave and so I just kept showing up; that's pretty much how that whole season went.

Q: OK, so at the end of their high school career you've got all this cool footage of a legend in the making, and the story of his teammates dealing with LeBron mania. How did you convince a superstar on LeBron's level to get involved?

A: They graduated from high school in the spring of 2003 and at that point I felt that this could be a feature-length film. As you'll notice in the film, 95% of the interviews are shot more recently, looking back on those events at high school. I needed LeBron's final interview to put it all together. I couldn't get in front of LeBron. He's in the NBA now. It just wasn't happening. I got the project in front of the right producer, who saw the story, saw what I was doing and thought it was worthwhile.

And then at the same time, I'll never forget, I went back to Akron about five years later. I remember thinking, I don't know if this is ever going to happen. I don't know if I can get in front of LeBron. So I had dinner with the other members of the Fab Five, everyone but LeBron.

I said, "Guys, I've never asked you for this before, and I hate that I have to ask you this now, but I need you to put me in front of LeBron. I feel like if I show him something or talk to him, at least I'll know if he's interested or not." The dinner was kind of heated, they didn't really want to blur the line of their friendship with LeBron and I completely understood that.

Q: So how did you overcome that reticence?

A: That was on the first night; I was home for 10 days that trip. And I didn't hear from the guys for the next nine days. I was packing my bags to go back to L.A., thinking this isn't going to work. I had a 12- minute trailer that I'd brought home and I got a call from one of the guys, Romeo. It was about 11 o'clock at night. And he said, "Hey, meet me at the gas station on Route 18." I'm thinking, "What's he talking about? That's a really weird request."

So I met him on the gas station on Route 18, and he says, "Get in the car." I'm like, "Where are we going?" He says, "Just get in." So we're driving and I say, "Seriously, where are we going?" He says "We're going to LeBron's house right now." I ask, "Does he know we're coming?" He's like, "No, we're going to surprise him." And we just showed up unannounced at LeBron's doorstep, it was like 11:30 on a Tuesday night. He was surprised to see us, but he invited us in and I popped the 12-minute trailer in. We watched it about 10 times in a row. LeBron just kept playing it over and over and over. He loved it, he couldn't get enough. He was laughing at all the parts that were supposed to be funny, he was quiet during the serious parts. You could tell he saw that this was professional, and it was the same story I had always tried to tell, it wasn't like it was just a LeBron James film, and I think he respected that. After watching it for the 10th time, he asked, "What do you need from me? What do you need to get this done? Interviews, whatever. Let's do it. I want to make sure this is done right." That was kind of the rebirth of the project in a way.

Q: Did Hoop Dreams influence you in any way? That's such a fantastic documentary about a couple of African-American adolescents who use basketball as a way to find meaning, become adults.

A: It certainly inspired me. Hoop Dreams is just an incredible film, one of my top 10. I think it's kind of hard to compare that film with mine, because they're two such different beasts. [Hoop Dreams director] Steve James was really with those guys all the time — it was a true vérité documentary. I think that's why it was so powerful. But I will say that I drew a lot of inspiration from Hoop Dreams, because in all these meetings when I'd go in there and hear people tell me, "People aren't going to care about Willie McGee" or "Coach Dru's not marketable," I'd think about Hoop Dreams and how brave Steve James was. He chased that thing, it took him years, and he came out with an incredible film. I wouldn't say my film is much like his, but I drew a lot of inspiration from his bravery.