Although it tells the origin story of NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo (Uche Agada), Rise focuses heavily on the bond of family. The film follows the Antetokounmpos, who emigrate from Nigeria to Greece and struggle to obtain citizenship. With the threat of deportation hovering over them, Charles (Dayo Okeniyi, The Hunger Games) and Veronica (Yetide Badaki, American Gods, This Is Us) do their best to keep their children out of the public eye. Yet, being in the spotlight might be the family's only path to freedom.
Giannis is determined to use basketball to keep his family together, but, despite his talent, the Antetokounmpos are still faced with several obstacles. With the NBA player serving as an executive producer for the film, Rise is an authentic retelling of the Antetokounmpo family's struggles and successes.
Director Akin Omotoso chats with Screen Rant about the creation of Rise and what it means to help the Antetokounmpo family share their story.
Screen Rant: Rise is an amazing film. I was cheering at times, I was tearing up at other times—there's so much to say about it. But is there anything specific that drew you to this story?
Akin Omotoso: Thanks for the question, and I'm really glad you said what you're saying because it's those elements that really drew me. I'm a huge NBA fan, basketball fan, and I'm always obsessed with the African players in the NBA and their journey and how they got there, you know? And so when I read Giannis' story in 2013—from the minute I understood the story—I felt like, man, if ever I made a film about a basketball player, it would be this guy's story. And this is in 2013, so I'm responding to the journey, like, his story, you know? Obviously, he's gone on to become, arguably, one of the greatest players. So, it was always that. It was just this idea of overcoming the odds, and just the idea of, "man, what must it be like to grow up stateless because somebody says you don't exist?"
All those ideas and those concepts were really intriguing to me, and that the family was able to overcome that really resonated with me when I heard his story in 2013. How I came to it was that I'd almost imagined the story—so from 2013 just dreaming of the story—and then reading in a magazine that Disney was making a movie of it. I bought this Sports Illustrated magazine with Giannis on the cover, and I was reading it and it just says, "Disney is making a movie of his life." So I said to my agent, "Whatever you do, you've got to get me in that room so I can tell them—if they give me the opportunity—how I'll tell the story."
I kept the magazine by my bedside, every morning, every night, looking at that magazine. I said, "I'm not taking that magazine away until I know they've got another director. It took a year, and then they watched my film, Vaya that I'd done, and my agent said, "Okay, they're ready to meet you." And I went in there—Rachel, I went in there with nothing to lose. I had nothing to lose. I just spoke from the heart, and seven weeks later I had the job.
Screen Rant: That's amazing. And, like you were saying, a lot of it is about this family, and the fact that this is a true story makes it even more meaningful. You kind of touched on this a little bit, but what does it mean to you to be able to share this family's story with the world, knowing this isn't just a movie, this is someone's life?
Akin Omotoso: It means the world, you know. And why I told you I had that long run-up with the story was just to say it was the story, for me. And because I follow the NBA and I follow his career, I was always in the story. You know what I mean? I was just always in lockstep. To be given the opportunity, to be talking to you, to know that the film is going to be coming out—it's just a dream come true. I haven't stopped smiling since I got the job. You know what I mean? It's so rare that the thing you want to do is the thing you end up doing, so because of that, I'm working with Disney, I'm working with the entire team to bring it to the people. And I'm like, "wake me up."
Screen Rant: You can definitely tell that there is a lot of passion behind the scenes for this project. There are a lot of different aspects to it, as well. It's a sports film, it's a true story, it's about cultural identity and emigration, but if you had to compress it into one category, it could really just be a story about family bonds. Was that what was most important for you to get across to the audience?
Akin Omotoso: Yes, it was. Because—Giannis—that was what he wanted to also touch on. The idea of the sacrifice that his parents made for them. And, so, from the beginning, he didn't want it to be about him. I think a lot of people coming into it might feel like it's just going to be about him and then be pleasantly surprised that it's actually a much bigger story. It all starts with him. He wanted to tell that bigger story. And so that's what we honed in on, and, like I said, when you tell the story, you don't start with the basketball, you start with, "Hey, do you know..." and then everyone hears the story and thinks, "Man, that's amazing."
I think that was always the key and I think that's the correct way. Because, emotionally, we can all, on some level, relate to family bonds, the idea of sticking together, overcoming adversity, and, in this case, the NBA draft being the vehicle through which this family was able to break out. And even though, mentally and physically, they never saw themselves in the situation the country had put them in, but it was actually that which allowed them to get their story out into the world and show people that your dreams can come true.
Screen Rant: What was it like being able to actually work with the family? Did they help the creative process? How involved were they in this film?
Akin Omotoso: It was great working with the family. They were very involved—Giannis was an executive producer. In the beginning, Giannis, Producer Bernie Goldmann, and Giannis' agent—they went to pitch the story to Disney, so, he was always involved. And it was richer for it. It was a great collaboration. It was exactly what you want when you're trying to honor someone's story in a way in which—because they're humble and because of their humility—they were able to allow us, as filmmakers, to do what we needed to do. But we, more importantly, wanted to make sure that the film represented them.
When they watch it, it can trigger off, "yeah, I remember that." You know what I mean? You want it to be authentic. So, I welcomed—and all of us on the team—welcomed their contributions. There are scenes in the film, like Thanasis riding a bicycle and Giannis is behind him, Giannis says that's one of the images he remembers from his childhood—Thanasis riding and him riding behind him. We have that in the movie, as an example, without giving away too much. That DNA was very important to me. That authenticity was very important to me as a storyteller.
Screen Rant: To wrap things up, what are you hoping the ultimate takeaway will be for the audience who sees this film?
Akin Omotoso: I hope the ultimate takeaway is that people walk away, like all of us, inspired, full of joy, and just go like, "yeah, man!" Just that feeling of, "okay, I can do this." And I think we all need that. It's definitely been inspiring to me from the first time I heard the story, so I hope audiences take that. We made it with love, and I hope they will receive it with love and it will continue to spread like that.
Based on the true story of three young Nigerian-Greek brothers, Giannis, Thanasis and Kostas Antetokounmpo, who emigrate to the United States and rise to fame and success within the National Basketball Association.
