“I need to win an Oscar”: Dwyane Wade aims to follow Kobe Bryant's footsteps with Hollywood dreams
Dwyane Wade was recently nominated for an Oscar as an executive producer of a short-film titled The Barber of Little Rock. The short-form documentary is about a barber named Arlo Washington from Little Rock, Arkansas, and follows his journey to help establish a nonprofit community bank in the area to help others reach financial stability.
At the time of the establishment of his Washington's People's Trust, the bank served as the only one in a 10-mile radius. In addition to following the story of Washington, the film executive produced by Wade also highlights the wealth gap in the area.
The film drew a lot of attention, earning a spot on The New Yorker's documentary series list which features the best short films. Recently, it was also nominated for an Oscar, putting Wade on a path similar to Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant.
During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the legendary shooting guard opened up about the project. As he explained, it's because of Kobe Bryan's award-winning Dear Basketball short film that he was inspired to win one of his own.
"When he won that, as a guy who just retired, I was sitting there knowing that my time was coming and I was like, 'Well, I guess I got to go win an Oscar now. I mean, I'll try not to get left too far behind in all that with the accolades, the championships, the gold medals and all the things."
He continued:
"I was like, 'I guess I need to win an Oscar."
Dwyane Wade's love of fashion highlights his evolution beyond basketball
In addition to the short documentary executive produced by Dwyane Wade, the former player also notably found himself involved with the fashion industry. Late in his career, Wade began to earn a reputation as a fashion trend-setter.
For quite some time, Wade was also credited with making the 3/4 length capri pants popular among NBA players. Now, he has found himself fully imersed in the fashion industry thanks to a new eyewear campaign with Versace.
Throughout his early experience with Versace staff, the Hall of Famer learned he was mispronouncing the brand name wrong. This came up during his interview with Fallon, as the talk-show host also mispronounced the name, creating a hilarious moment.
"Well, I was on set of my first Versace campaign, and it was time for me to get my moment. The camera was going to zoom in and they was like, all right, say the line. And I'm like, 'I got it. Versace.'
"And they start whispering behind the camera. -And they had my stylist come up to me and was like 'It's 'Versachay.' And I'm like, 'You knew that.'"
The Oscars will take place on March 10th, where Dwyane Wade will have a chance to follow in the footsteps of Kobe Bryant.