ESPN Films Adds Eight More To "30 For 30" Film Project Roster

Documentary On Marion Jones To Be Part Of ESPN Films' "30 For 30" Project

ESPN Films announced eight additional films and filmmakers for its "30 for 30" project, which debuts in October. The "30 for 30" project consists of 30 filmmakers who will create one-hour films on sports stories that occurred between '79-'09, ESPN's first 30 years. The recently added films include: "Steve Bartman," directed by Alex Gibney; "One Simple Gesture," directed by Cliff Bestall and produced by Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary; "Birth of Big Air," directed by Jeff Tremaine and produced by Johnny Knoxville and Spike Jonze; "Straight Outta L.A.," directed by Ice Cube; "Charismatic," directed by Asylum Entertainment's Steve Michaels, Joel Surnow and Jonathan Koch; "Right to Play," directed by Frank Marshall, "Racing the Devil," directed by Al Szymanski; and "Marion Jones: Press Pause," directed by John Singleton (ESPN). Marion Jones said that when she was "approached to make the film, 'Marion Jones: Press Pause,' she was 'hesitant to want to have to open the door again to so much drama and pain.'" But she said that she ultimately "decided making the film could be 'part of healing as well'" (USA TODAY, 7/30). DAILY VARIETY's Jon Weisman notes previously announced "30 for 30" directors include Peter Berg, Reggie Rock Blythewood, Steve James, Barbara Kopple, Barry Levinson, Albert Maysles, Ron Shelton and Mike Tollin. James, whose subject is the '93 bowling-alley brawl that resulted in Allen Iverson going to jail while in high school, "compared his approach in some respects to that of the recent documentary 'Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired.'" James said, "I'm trying to understand and dig deeper into what was done in the past to try to understand the forces that were at work" (DAILY VARIETY, 7/30).