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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2012)
Arts & Entertainment Oscar-Nominated director Weighs-In on His Heartwarming documentary B orn on September 7, 1979, Thomas McKay Martin, Jr. was raised in Seattle and graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in Ameri- can Cultural Studies. In 2002, T.J. made an auspi- cious directorial debut with A Day in the Hype of America, which won the Best Documentary award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. He next shot a short entitled Loves Martha before making On the Rocks, a docudrama about drug and alcohol addic- tion. T.J. collaborated with Dan Lindsay on his latest movie, Undefeated, an inspira- tional documentary chronicling the selfless efforts made by Memphis’ Manassas High School football coach Bill Courtney on behalf of underprivileged members of his team. The film has been nominated for an Acad- emy Award in the Best Documentary category. And here, T.J. talks about the pos- sibility of becoming the first African-American director to win an Oscar. Kam Williams: Hi, T.J., thanks for the time, and congratulations on the Oscar nomination. T.J. Martin: Thank you very much for the kind words. It’s been an amazing expe- rience. KW: What interested you in making Undefeated? TJM: I was really drawn to two things. First, my directing partner, Dan Lindsay and I are interested in making documen- taries where the action unfolds in front of the camera versus a talking head piece. We saw this as an opportunity to make a coming-of-age C ELEBRITY film that was much more I NTERVIEW experiential and less anecdotal. Second, I feel that often times the stories by Kam that come out of neigh- borhoods like North Williams Memphis are sensational- ized pieces exploiting the pitfalls of the community. I saw this film as an opportunity to show both the good and the bad, and to really celebrate the community and all of the possibilities that lay before it. KW: How did you come to hear about Coach Bill Courtney? TJM: Our producer, Rich Middlemas, graduated from the University of Ten- nessee. He follows their recruiting every year. In 2009, he came upon a recruit named O.C. Brown. He had never heard of him and decided to do a little research. He Googled his name and the first thing that appeared was an article from the Commercial Appeal, a local Memphis paper, about his living part-time with his grandmother in North Memphis and part- time with his offensive line coach in East Memphis. He had never worked in the doc- umentary world, so he sent the article to Dan and me. We thought that it was an interesting enough story to see if there was potential for a feature-length documentary. While trying to track down O.C. Brown we met Coach Bill, and from there everything changed! KW: Why do you think he was so suc- cessful in turning Manassas High School’s football program around? TJM: I think he was successful for a few reasons. First of all, he understands that the sport of football cannot be the foundation Page 8 The Portland Skanner February 8, 2012 T.J. Martin, at left, and his co-director dan Lindsay for building and grooming young men. As he states in the film, “Football doesn’t build character, it reveals it.” Secondly, he stayed committed to his student/athletes. One of the biggest issues we found in that commu- nity was a lack of consistency in the kids’ lives. Bill not only said that he would turn the program around but he also showed up everyday and proved to them and the com- munity that he was committed to the cause. Lastly, I was always impressed at how Bill treated the students with respect and spoke to them like young adults and not like they were little kids. He didn’t assume they would respect him simply because he’s an adult. He put in the time and effort and earned that trust and respect from the stu- dents as well as the community. KW: Do you think he’s had an effect on his players as a role model that will last long past their playing days? TJM: Absolutely! Good coaches often become surrogate parental figures and can be very influential, especially during the adolescent years. One thing that stood out to us and that is not seen in the film much is how often Bill would hug his players and tell them that he loved them. This would happen every day to just about every single player on the team. There’s no doubt that when Bill takes the time to share that level of intimacy and respect with his players, it has a positive, long-lasting effect. KW: What message do you hope people will take away from the movie? TJM: We set out to make an intimate, coming-of-age film that is, more than any- thing, a human interest piece. With that See UNDEFEATED on page 9
