Steve James was working on the Roger Ebert documentary Life Itself when the film critic passed away. On the documentary’s Twitter page, James checked in and said that they were devastated but that he will finish the film.
Check out Shawn’s tribute to Roger Ebert here
Martin Scorsese is co-producing the Roger Ebert documentary and word is that the filmmakers have been preparing for his death as his condition worsened over the past few months. There is no theatrical distribution in place but CNN has the TV rights to air it in 2014.
Ebert had nothing but praise for Steve James when it comes to producing the movie of his life.
I continue to cooperate with the talented filmmaker Steve James on the bio-documentary he, Steve Zaillian and Martin Scorsese are making about my life. I am humbled that anyone would even think to do it, but I am also grateful.
Steve James was nominated for an Oscar for the amazing Hoop Dreams (for editing). The movie was completely screwed by the Academy in the documentary category thanks to shady voting practices. Apparently, voters were only voting for their favorite movie, instead of ranking their favorites, in an attempt to rig the votes. That changed the way voting was done in the future.
Anyway, here is hoping that he can bring some more magic back to the screen because if anyone deserves a wonderful documentary over their life right now, it is Roger Ebert.
Source: Twitter