Telling the story of Giannis
Last October, 全世界的篮球迷都在焦急地等待着NBA超级巨星字母哥是否会留在密尔沃基雄鹿队, where he’d played for a decade, or sign with a bigger market team like so many before him. For Kristen Lappas ’09, 这个决定产生了重大的影响——她刚刚完成了一部记录安特托昆博奇迹般成为明星的纪录片的制作. If he switched teams, her crew would have more work to do.
“It was funny, my bosses were saying ‘Oh my gosh, if he goes, 我们得彻底改变电影的结尾,’” she recalled. “But I had a really good feeling. 他是一个非常忠诚的人，我没想到他会走.” Still, 当时安特托昆博同意了一份价值1.86亿美元的三年续约合同, Lappas breathed a sigh of relief.
In February, Giannis: The Marvelous Journey，由拉帕斯导演和制作，在Prime Video上全球首发. 它以对字母哥和他的家人的广泛采访为特色，这是他们第一次接受采访，并讲述了一个在雅典街头卖小饰品的无证黑人男孩如何成为两届MVP的迷人故事, world champion, and global icon.
Lappas, who majored in communication at Boston College, 她的一生都被体育所包围(她的父亲在维拉诺瓦大学担任大学篮球教练), 并在体育媒体担任了15年的导演和制片人. 其中12年是在ESPN电影公司度过的，她凭借两部短纪录片获得了艾美奖: Blackfeet Boxing: Not Invisible and A Mountain to Climb. In 2022, she directed Dream On, 一部屡获殊荣的多集纪录片，记录了1996年奥运会女子篮球队的比赛, part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series.
拉帕斯第一次见到安特托昆博是在2019年，当时他正在监督一部关于运动鞋亚文化的纪录片(安特托昆博是第一个与耐克合作推出签名运动鞋的国际球员)，并知道他是一个有魅力的小丑，他对自己的个人生活也是出了名的保密. When her boss at Words + Pictures, the production studio where she now works, told her Antetokounmpo was ready to share his story, she knew it would take time to build trust.
“He’s a very unique personality,” said Lappas. “He doesn’t have a huge circle of friends, 他这辈子唯一在乎的就是他的家人. It was hard at first, trying to break through and get to the real him, but once you get there, he is one of the smartest, most introspective people I’ve ever met.”
Antetokounmpo and Lappas at the film's premier. Photo courtesy of Kristen Lappas.
安特托昆博和他的三个兄弟出生在希腊，父母是尼日利亚人，为了寻找更好的未来而逃离非洲, leaving their first-born son in the care of relatives. 这家人没有合法身份，他们靠卖手表凑钱吃饭和租房, CDs, and sunglasses on the beach. Often there wasn’t enough, and one night, 一家人回到家，发现门上贴着一张驱逐令. Fearful of deportation, they packed their things in a hurry, 用滑板推着冰箱在街上走.
In the early 2000s, 越来越多的人将希腊的金融崩溃归咎于移民, 极右翼犯罪组织“金色黎明”的成员开始在街头袭击他们. 字母哥的弟弟亚历克斯记得字母哥每天在放学回家的路上挑战他, 他们担心如果在金色黎明总部附近被发现会发生什么. During filming, 拉帕斯不确定字母哥是否愿意谈论这段经历, but he did so without hesitation, tearing up on camera.
“I told him, in order for your story to be the most authentic, and for viewers to relate and connect to you, you’ve got to talk about the hard stuff,” said Lappas. “And I didn’t have to push. 我想他现在有一种责任感来分享这些故事.”
Despite his complicated relationship with Greece, Antetokounmpo still considers it home, and he and his brothers play for the national team. During the two years spent filming, Lappas flew to Greece four times, interviewing people who knew the family years ago, 包括一个曾经给孩子们免费食物的咖啡馆老板. 安特托昆博和他的未婚妻玛丽亚在休赛期住在雅典, 影片还包括他们和两个儿子在家里的感人镜头, joking about changing diapers.
Back in Milwaukee, 拉帕斯联系的每个人都愿意在镜头前谈论“希腊怪胎”,他在雄鹿效力期间改变了雄鹿的组织. Coaches, players, 以及体育评论员——包括像杰森·基德这样的大牌, Vin Baker, Khris Middleton, and Kenny Smith—lent stories and commentary to the film. 就连美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)也“兴奋地同意”参加, said Lappas, but the scheduling didn’t work out.
雄鹿队助理教练约什·奥本海默分享了安特托昆博早年在NBA的回忆, when he was still acclimating to life in the U.S. At the time, 雄鹿队的工作人员将18岁的安特托昆博纳入麾下, taking him to try his first smoothie, teaching him to drive, 并解释说他不需要把脏衣服带回家. Antetokounmpo sent money home to his family frequently, and one time, 30 minutes before a game, he reached his ATM limit and didn’t have cash for a taxi. He started running to the stadium in the bitter cold, and was picked up by a family driving to the game. When Oppenheimer asked who dropped him off, Antetokounmpo responded that he didn’t know, but that they were “very nice people.”
“That’s the goodness in him,” said Oppenheimer. “He saw the best and he sees the best in everybody.”
As she grew closer to Antetokounmpo, 拉帕斯不断对自己分析自身经历的能力感到惊讶, 包括像2017年他父亲突然去世这样的艰难事件. 当她问他是如何在这样的悲剧事件之后提升自己的比赛水平的(他在接下来的赛季赢得了他的两个MVP戒指中的第一个)，字母哥给出了一个完美的声音，关于什么是无所畏惧.
“I was shocked,” recalled Lappas. “He would always surprise me with his answers. 根据我的电子游戏正规平台，我从来没想过他会这么说, it was always this really forthcoming, reflective approach to the question.”
Lappas and the crew of 'Giannis: The Marvelous Journey. '
去年年底，字母哥的家人聚集在家里观看比赛 Giannis: The Marvelous Journey before its release. 拉帕斯很紧张(“这是整个过程中最伤脑筋的部分,但这家人的反应如她所料:情绪激动, grateful, and proud. 扬尼斯开玩笑地拿着笔记本来到了放映现场，他告诉拉帕斯他没有笔记.
“As a storyteller and a filmmaker, you do it for the audiences, but for me, I do it for the subject,” Lappas said. “事实上，这家人觉得他们的故事得到了公正的对待, and that it’s authentic, and not fabricated or exaggerated, was really important to me. 看着他的家人坐在沙发上，泪流满面, that to me is the most rewarding part of all.”
For her next project, Lappas is staying in the basketball world, 为ESPN导演了一个关于女大学运动员的系列节目，其中包括爱荷华州的明星凯特琳·克拉克, 有望成为2024年WNBA选秀大会的状元秀. 虽然她对较慢的日程安排感到兴奋(拉帕斯一直在编辑扬尼斯，直到6月份她生下女儿的那一天)，但每次任务之间总会有一段调整期, she said.
“这么长时间以来，你一直活在别人的故事里, and then all of a sudden it just stops,” she explained. “It’s bittersweet for sure.”