The best actors and actresses around the world often find inspiration for their roles from other greats in different fields. Considering Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is one of the most famous figures on earth, it makes sense that many would see his career and take things from it to help them lock in to their character and one such actor is Timothee Chalamet.
Chalamet is one of the biggest and most recognizable actors today, known for his lead roles in the “Dune” movie series, as well as playing Willy Wonka in 2023 movie, Wonka. His most recent movie, however is “Marty Supreme,” a film inspired by the life of 1950s table-tennis champion Marty Reisman.
And in order to really lock himself into the role, Chalamet said that the 2009 documentary “More Than a Game,” which followed the life of LeBron and his high school basketball teammates, was extremely impactful for him, via the “Mind the Game” podcast:
“That was exactly it. You know, majorly ambitious as a New York youth to find athletic greatness the way these two men next to me found it. I never found it in my own life. But I had that aspiration, that Jose Alvarado, whatever you want to call it, that kind of that dream big mentality. And a huge part, I can’t even look LeBron in the face right now, his whole career, but really more than a game. The 2009 documentary about LeBron in high school and his classmates, his best friends. That was hugely impactful for me, man. That’s the life I aspired to have. I didn’t find it in athleticism, but I was able to find it in acting and thanks to [director] Josh [Safdie] I found it in this role. I got to put it out there for the first time.”
Chalamet is like many boys growing up in that he aspired to be a sports star, and the actor is a well-known New York Knicks fan, regularly being courtside at Madison Square Garden. Needing to embrace the mindset of the best in his craft, he was able to gain a lot by watching a young LeBron.
There are very few who athletes who have had a spotlight on them for as long as James has and handled it as well as he has and what he represents helped Chalamet figure out exactly what he needed to be in this new movie.
Lakers’ LeBron James opens up about his inspiration growing up
LeBron James has always been very open about his childhood growing up and the difficulties being raised by a single mother and the Lakers star recently discussed his inspirations growing up.
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