INTERVIEW: Latest ’30 for 30′ looks at instant replay in tennis
Photo: Subject to Review is a new 30 for 30 documentary that looks at instant replay in tennis. Photo courtesy of ESPN Films / Provided by Sunshine Sachs with permission.
Subject to Review, the new 30 for 30 documentary from ESPN Films, takes a deep dive into the history and impact of instant replay in the sport of tennis. On its surface, one might not think such a topic has a rich historical background or a cultural connection, but Theo Anthony’s movie converts the naysayers quite easily. His filmic exposé looks closely at the camera equipment and technology that have been utilized to capture fractions of a second that can decide a pivotal moment in the most important tennis matches of all time.
Subject to Review, which played film festivals and recently premiered on the network, will be available to stream starting Jan. 13. Anthony, whose films have played the Toronto International Film Festival and SXSW, is best known for his 2017 documentary, Rat Film.
“I think pretty generally in a lot of my work I’m just interested in how we organize the world and what that says about certain political, cultural motivations,” Anthony said in a recent phone interview. “I think you can see a clear line to my first film, Rat Film, which is all about urban planning in Baltimore and how that played into racist histories of redlining and segregation, and what are the motivating factors behind that. I think with this film I’m very interested in camera systems and how cameras interpret the world and present something that seems recognizable to us.”
Anthony said that ESPN pitched him on the idea of directing a 30 for 30 film, and the filmmaker originally thought a broad look at how instant replay changed sports was a good idea. However, almost immediately, he realized there was too much material on that front, and he needed to focus his efforts.
“I think as we got into that project we realized that it was too broad a topic, and we decided to really zero in on a really singular use case,” he said. “And the Hawk-Eye [technology] presents a very interesting example of how instant replay is used, to not only heighten the entertainment, but also to make decisions on the field.”
Anthony now had his inspiration, and he started to tell the story of Hawk-Eye and also how far back instant replay goes in the sport of tennis. Amazingly, it goes far back, more than 100 years actually.
“I was surprised,” the filmmaker admitted. “I was surprised instant reply has been in use since 1881 — Eadweard Muybridge and his work inventing what could be called one of the very first moving image cameras. It wasn’t actually one camera. It was a series of 24 cameras arranged along a racetrack that would take a photo of a horse or a human as they walked across, and the individual images could be stitched together later. They began using these cameras at the finish lines of horse races. It’s where we get the term ‘photo finish’ from, and even going back 140 years at this point, it’s amazing to see these words and these letters to the editor that feel like they could have been written yesterday about the possibilities, but also the limitations, of instant replay. So that was maybe the biggest surprise — that feeling that we’re living in history.”
Before Subject to Review, Anthony wasn’t much of a tennis fan. Today, he watches the sport a little more than he did, but he came to this topic from a “sideways swoop,” as he put it. His interest was less in the sport itself and more in the technology. That should be a welcoming statement to those potential viewers who also don’t see themselves as tennis fans.
“I learned a lot about tennis, and it’s definitely changed the way that I will interact with and view tennis forever,” he said. “And I hope maybe people who watch it will feel that way, too.”
When Subject to Review premiered, Anthony could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The premiere was the culmination of a cinematic journey that has been two years in the making.
“I think maybe ESPN first reached out to me a little over two years ago, and so it’s at least been simmering in my mind for that long,” Anthony said. “We filmed in November of 2018, so a year ago, and then a good deal of this year was spent editing. It’s a massive amount of research. Before I go out and I film anywhere, I will sometimes spend up to a year or more researching the past literature, but also understanding everything I can about the place we’re going to shoot. For this film, we’re looking at blueprints of the arena and figuring out what our best lines of sight were, where we’re going to be placed. Yeah, it’s a very time-consuming process, and then to actually edit all that together, it’s kind of like starting from scratch again. You have all this material in front of you, and you’re just trying to build everything up from scratch again.”
Working for ESPN on a 30 for 30 project was a rewarding experience for Anthony. He said that the network was fully onboard creatively, and he as a filmmaker was given the control to tell the story as he saw fit. They knew about his other, more experimental films, and they were cool with giving him the reins — or the tennis racket, in this case.
“Sometimes my films look like music videos, sometimes my films look like video games, sometimes they look like Ken Burns films,” Anthony said. “They’re really all over the place. Luckily, ESPN came to me knowing at least a little bit what they were getting into, and I found that creatively they were onboard with what we brought them.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
30 for 30: Subject to Review, directed by Theo Anthony, recently premiered and will be available to stream Jan. 13. Click here for more information.
