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