The Lakers have always been the more Hollywood basketball team in town, the one that draws the celebrities to those pricey courtside seats to see and be seen. But Los Angeles Clippers star Elton Brand is turning into a Hollywood player himself as co-producer of the new movie "Rescue Dawn." Inspired by a true story, the film stars Christian Bale as Navy pilot Dieter Dengler, who was shot down over Laos at the start of the Vietnam War and escaped a POW camp.
Werner Herzog directed the $10 million movie based on his own documentary, "Little Dieter Needs to Fly." "Rescue Dawn" comes from Gibraltar Films, which the 28-year-old Brand co-founded; he spent a month on location in Thailand during the hot, physically demanding shoot. The 6-foot-8 power forward sat down with The Associated Press — which is a good thing, since his interviewer is only 5 feet tall — to talk about movies, basketball, and movies about basketball.
AP: Why use your offseason time making movies? Brand: I write — I write a lot of stuff — and I actually wrote a screenplay. AP: Wow, what's it about?
Brand: Well I wrote a few — I don't want to give it away. There are some talented people that could take it up real fast. AP: Ah, intellectual property and all that.
So my good friend and partner in Gibraltar Entertainment is (nightclub owner) Steve Marlton, and he said, "Why don't we make a production company?" I was like, "OK." But we had no projects, so we were searching for projects, and "Little Dieter Needs to Fly" was a documentary that I fell in love with.
AP: What is it about movies that appeals to you? Brand: Just that you can take your mind to a different place. Page 1 of 2 The Lakers have always been the more Hollywood basketball team in town, the one that draws the celebrities to those pricey courtside seats to see and be seen.
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