Exclusive: Shooting Stars cast interviews with Caleb McLaughlin, Marquis “Mookie” Cook, Avery S. Wills, Jr., Khalil Everage and Wood Harris
Now playing on Peacock is Shooting Stars, which is based on the book by LeBron James and the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Friday Night Lights, Buzz Bissinger. This is the inspiring origin story of a basketball superhero, revealing how LeBron James and his childhood friends become the #1 high school team in the country, launching James’s breathtaking career as a four-time NBA Champion, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Shooting Stars is set in the 1990s, where a young LeBron James (five-star high school small forward Marquis “Mookie” Cook) and his three best friends — Lil Dru (Caleb McLaughlin), Willie McGee (Avery S. Wills, Jr.) and Sian Cotton (Khalil Everage)—declare themselves the “Fab Four,” after the famed Michigan Wolverines’ “Fab Five” of that era. From the moment we meet them, we realize this group of friends, under the guidance of coach Dru Joyce (Wood Harris), is connected by more than basketball.
So, when the coach at the top basketball school in their district threatens to separate them by putting Lil Dru on junior varsity, the Fab Four decide to switch schools to be able to play varsity together, joining the team at a predominantly white Catholic school instead. The community takes this as an insult, but the boys’ dedication to each other is more important than anything else.
With their new coach (Dermot Mulroney), a disgraced former college coach seeking redemption of his own, the boys, along with former rival and new teammate Romeo Travis (newcomer Sterling “Scoot” Henderson), will face battles not only on the court but in real life, in their quest to become national champs, and will rediscover that what matters most about the game is the people playing beside you.
Shooting Stars is directed by Emmy nominee Chris Robinson. The film’s screenplay is by Frank E. Flowers and Tony Rettenmaier & Juel Taylor, based on the book by James and Bissinger.
Blackfilmandtv.com's Wilson Morales speaks with Caleb McLaughlin, Marquis “Mookie” Cook, Avery S. Wills, Jr., Khalil Everage and Wood Harris
