James, Wade produce doc on 2008 Olympic ‘Redeem Team’
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP) – Variety
A documentary on the 2008 U.S. men’s basketball team known as the “Redeem Team,” with executive producers including LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, will premiere on Netflix this fall.
“The Redeem Team” will debut Oct. 7 on Netflix, the streaming service announced Friday. The film is Netflix’s first collaboration with the International Olympic Committee. With behind-the-scenes footage and interviews from the players and coach Mike Krzyzewski, the documentary chronicles the 2008 team’s bid for gold in the Beijing games after a disappointing bronze finish at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Kobe Bryant was captain of the 2008 team, which also included James, Wade, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony. The team, whose nickname referenced the fabled 1992 “Dream Team,” beat Spain in the gold medal game.
“The Redeem Team” is directed by Jon Weinbach, a producer on Netflix’s 2020 documentary series on Michael Jordan’s final season with the Chicago Bulls, “The Last Dance.”
Netflix has partnered with the International Olympic Committee for The Redeem Team—a new documentary looking at the U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball team’s iconic victory of 2008, which will be released globally on the streamer on October 7th.
Using unprecedented Olympic footage and behind-the-scenes material, The Redeem Team tells the story of the U.S Olympic Men’s Basketball Team’s quest for gold at the Olympic Games
Beijing 2008 following the previous team’s shocking, low-point performance four years earlier in Athens. The documentary offers a portrait of team building and features interviews with
athletes and coaches from Dwyane Wade and LeBron James to Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski, who reflect on how The Redeem Team set a new standard for American basketball.
The NBA legends LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have teamed up once more — this time as executive producers and subjects of the new documentary “The Redeem Team,” which celebrates the victorious 2008 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball team.
Directed by Jon Weinbach (“The Last Dance”), the documentary marks the first collaboration between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Netflix, as the project uses “unprecedented Olympic footage and behind-the-scenes material” to chronicle Team USA’s quest for Olympic gold at the 2008 games in Beijing.
According to the documentary’s official logline, “The Redeem Team” tells the story of the 2008 squad’s journey as they followed the previous team’s shocking performance four years earlier in Athens, where they took home a bronze medal after winning gold in the previous three straight Olympic Games. The film is said to offer “a fascinating portrait of team building” as it features interviews with the athletes and coaches, from Wade and James to Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski, who reflect on how “The Redeem Team” set a new standard for American basketball.
“In 2008, I played with heroes of mine, all stars, friends and future teammates,” stated Wade about his involvement in the project. “Outside of winning and showing the world that we were still the most dominant, our other big challenge was changing the perception of what everyone thought about the NBA and USA Basketball! I’m excited for everyone to get an opportunity to go behind the scenes and see all the work that went into this iconic team — The Redeem Team!”
The documentary is produced by Greg Groggel and Diego Hurtado De Mendoza, with executive producers Frank Marshall, Mike Tollin, Weinbach, Wade, Mark Parkman, Mary Byrne and Yiannis Exarchos alongside James, Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson and Philip Byron of Uninterrupted.
“The Redeem Team” — an Olympic Channel, Kennedy/Marshall Company & Mandalay Sports Media production, in association with 59th and Prairie Entertainment, Uninterrupted, NBA Entertainment & USA Basketball — launches globally Oct. 7 on Netflix.
The project marks not only the first collaboration between the streamer and the Olympic Channel, the media studio owned and operated by the IOC, but also their first film produced exclusively for a global streaming service. In support of the film, the Olympic Channel opened its archives to offer basketball footage from the past 70 years of Olympic history.
“’The Redeem Team’ represents the very best of what the Olympics are all about,” noted Parkman, general manager of the Olympic Channel Services. “This film will bring viewers directly inside that team and the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 by showcasing the personality and dynamics of a special group of superstars who came together as one to reclaim basketball supremacy on the biggest stage in sports.”
Weinbach, a decorated producer, filmmaker and writer, is the president of Skydance Sports, a division of Skydance Media. He was formerly the executive producer and EVP of Mandalay Sports Media, a content venture founded in 2012 by Peter Guber and Tollin, where he served as a producer (alongside Tollin as an executive producer) on “The Last Dance.” Weinbach’s other MSM projects included executive producing the docuseries “The Comedy Store,” as well as nine documentary films for the Olympic Channel. Prior to joining Mandalay, he produced and wrote the PGA award-nominated documentary “The Other Dream Team,” and was a staff reporter at the Wall Street Journal.
