"It's his story, not the false narratives" – Spike Lee set to direct Colin Kaepernick documentary after green light from ESPN
Colin Kaepernick is already the subject of a documentary with Ava Duvernay's Colin in Black and White, which is available on Netflix. Legendary filmmaker Spike Lee now wants to tell the real story of the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback. Lee is known for making films like Da 5 Bloods, Do the Right Thing, BlacKkKlansman and Malcolm X.
Kaepernick, who was one play away from winning a Super Bowl, has been out of the NFL since 2016. That was the year he began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality in America.
He has tried to return to the NFL, completing workouts with a few teams over the years. He's thus far been unable to do so. Lee believes the quarterback is more dedicated to football than people realize, and also announced that he's working on the project, according to ETonline:
"I'm working on my multi-series documentary on Colin Kaepernick for ESPN. It's his story, not the false narratives. Six years the National Football League has stopped him from playing. He still gets up at 4 or 4:30 every morning to train, five to six days a week. So when that next phone call comes, he'll be ready. He'll be ready."
The prominent filmmaker hasn't made a major motion picture since 2020's Da 5 Bloods, so this project will be his first big thing in a little while.
What story can Spike Lee tell about Colin Kaepernick?
When Colin Kaepernick first began kneeling, many people talked to him to find out what was going on. He was asked ad nauseum why he was doing it, what his goal was and several more questions.
Back then, his story was more direct and he was regularly in the news. Once he exited the NFL, people stopped asking him. His motives and objectives were often skewed or came from second-hand sources. Lee has picked up on this and has seen a lot of different ideas and narratives come to light in the last six years. He intends on telling the story as the quarterback would tell it.
There have been athletic activists before, like Muhammad Ali and Roberto Clemente. The former 49ers star is one of the most recent and most prominent examples, so there's probably plenty of content for Lee to present on-screen.
There is no release date or anything for the project, not even a title, but it is reportedly in the works.
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