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 While in the windy and recently wintery city of Chicago, Alterman sat down with The Deadbolt> to introduce himself to the world as a director, chat basketball history, 1970s ABA, and the intensity of filming comedy and basketball.
THE DEADBOLT: Can you tell us a little bit about your own basketball history?
KENT ALTERMAN: I was a rabid fan from the first day the Spurs came to San Antonio. There were a few main investors who brought the team, but they opened it up to the town for people. I think they were really trying to drum up interest. They used to be the Dallas Chaparalls and became the Spurs. My father, my uncle, and a friend went in together and bought a share in the team. It was probably like $600. So, we were considered "owners." We had seats mid-court, third row and I was like the classic class clown - obnoxious kid, trying to be amusing, picking a player on the other team and trying to get under their skin.
THE DEADBOLT: With your background, did you help develop the project with Scot [Armstrong, the writer]?
KENT: Yeah. We were working on Elf. Scot had done some uncredited rewrite work on the film and that's where I really got to know Will. And that was my first project at New Line. So, Scot came to me with kind of a one-line pitch - "What about doing a comedy about the ABA?" That was all I needed to hear. But I had no idea if it would ever turn into something real. We had a shared interest in basketball, but it's not like he devised it for me. He was going around town pitching it. So, I thought that I love working with Scot and what could be more fun than working on something so close to my heart? We started outlining it and had mentioned it to Will and he sparked to it and seemed interested. And then we both got busy with other stuff and a couple of years went by.
And then two and a half years ago things cleared up enough that we could get back into it. We started hashing the story and Scot started writing and I talked to Will's manager. Will wanted to talk about it, so we flew down to South Carolina while they were shooting Talladega Nights. Scot had written about 60 pages at that point. Will read 'em and we got together and he was really enthusiastic about it and had a lot of great ideas. Scot came back and we hashed through the story some more. It kind of evolved. It was very collaborative. He's pure genius. Scot wrote the script. Part of a testament to how good Scot is - that part of why his stuff is so funny - is that it is so organic to the material. He doesn't force something to be funny just for its own sake. He's able to resist the temptation to write a 'bit'.
THE DEADBOLT: At what point did you decide this particular project was going to be your directorial debut?
KENT: It's something I've always been interested in. After Scot finished a draft and we gave it to Will to read, a little time went by and in March of '06, I had a crazy intersection of things. On a Wednesday, I found out that my wife was pregnant with our first child and her due date was New Year's Eve, which was also our anniversary. The next day I got a call from Jimmy Miller, Will's manager, and he said, "Yeah, Will read the script. He loves it. He wants to do it next and start in January. He wants you to direct." Everything came together.
THE DEADBOLT: So, you made a movie with a new baby?
KENT: Yep, and she's in the movie. She's in the scene where the commissioner is watching the game at home with his family.
THE DEADBOLT: You must have slept like two hours.
KENT: Yeah, I didn't sleep at all. I always tell people that if I had even slightly less going on, I probably would have freaked out. It was so overwhelming that all I could do was be zen-like and ride the waves.
Kent Alterman Has Basketball Fever Page 2
-- Brian Tallerico
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