The Laker love is strong within the Academy. On Sunday night Kobe Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, two-time NBA Finals MVP, League MVP and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, among other accolades, became the first professional basketball player to win an Academy Award after “Dear Basketball” took the Animated Short Oscar. This was Bryant’s first official film project since retiring from the Lakers in 2016.
Kobe Bryant, Meryl Streep and Saoirse Ronan pop in Oscars 2018 class photo
Bryant was nominated alongside legendary animator Glen Keane whose hand-drawn animation brought a letter the basketball icon penned for The Player’s Tribune to life. Keane is best known for his character contributions to the Disney era of animated films such “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and, most recently, “Tangled” and the Oscar-winning animated short “Paperman” (that statue went to director John Kahrs). If Keane had not won an Oscar tonight he likely would have been a candidate for an honorary statue sometime over the next decade.
The fact Bryant won in this ear of #MeToo is astounding considering he settled a controversial and very public sexual harassment suit in 2004. Bryant is credited as a writer/creator and executive producer of the short which was scored by another living legend, John Williams.
The 39-year-old is not the first basketball player to try to make their way into the movie business and came close to Oscar. Bryant’s former Laker teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, might be best known for his on-screen roles, but he most recently was an executive producer on the Fox Searchlight documentary “Steps” which was in Oscar contention this season. Former Los Angeles Clipper Elton Brand formed a production company that helped shepherd Werner Herzog’s critically acclaimed “Rescue Dawn” with Christian Bale. Former Phoenix Sun and New York Knicks center Amar’e Stoudemire produced Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Beyond the Lights” and other players such as Baron Davis and Chris Webber have dived into the independent film world.
Current NBA superstar LeBron James has dipped his toe into the TV business with shows such as “Survivors Remorse,” but is currently producing not only “Space Jam 2” but Antoine Fuqua’s “Untitled Muhammad Ali” documentary.