“ANDRE THE GIANT”
HBO Sports, WWE, JMH Films and Ringer Films
From HBO Sports, WWE, JMH Films and Ringer Films comes Andre The Giant, a documentary examining the life and career of one of the most beloved legends in WWE history. The ambitious, wide-ranging film explores Andre’s upbringing in France, his celebrated WWE career and his forays into the entertainment world. It includes interviews with Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Billy Crystal, Rob Reiner, family members and more.
André René Roussimoff was born in 1946 in Molien, France. In his early teens, he exhibited signs of gigantism though he was not diagnosed with acromegaly until his twenties. He began his training in Paris at 17 and eventually became known in wrestling circuits around the world. In 1973, Andre joined the organization now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, where he became a superstar and rival of WWE legend Hulk Hogan.
Emmy-winning Executive Producer Bill Simmons, who joined HBO in 2015 and founded sports and culture publication The Ringer, describes Andre as “the ultimate unicorn” and “a true legend.”
“Everyone who ever crossed paths with him has an Andre story — and usually four or five,” says Simmons. “I’m delighted to join forces with [director] Jason Hehir and WWE so we can capture Andre’s amazing story once and for all.”
“NO NO: A DOCKUMENTARY”
Directed by Jeff Radice
The film details the life story of American professional baseball player Dock Ellis, his prolific career, his addictions to alcohol and amphetamines, his efforts to help other addicts until his death in 2008, and the no-hitter he threw while under the influence of LSD.
“DENNIS RODMAN: FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE”
Directed by Todd Kapostas
The good news is that Rodman’s life is so fascinating and so unsettling that even the usual-suspects approach to telling it manages to be pretty compelling TV. Even edited to fit the mold of a two-hour cable documentary, Rodman’s biography has the makings of a definitive late-20th-century American trash-epic, dizzily encompassing the manifold weirdnesses of its time and place.
“BASEBALL”
A Film by Ken Burns
Four years in the making, Ken Burns’ Emmy-winning documentary traces the history of America’s great game, beginning with its origins in the 1840s and concluding with a summary of the years covering about 1970 to 1993. It totals nine episodes, or innings, and more than 18 hours, brought to life by contemporaneous photos, paintings, lithographs and newsreels, and the voices of actors and writers reciting over pictures and video the first-person accounts of many of baseball’s legendary characters.
“ALL THIS MAYHEM”
Directed by Eddie Martin
All This Mayhem is an unflinching, never-before-seen tale that uncovers a world of drugs and unfettered hedonism during the glory days of professional vert skateboarding. Legendary skaters and charismatic brothers Tas and Ben Pappas share an intense bond that not only propels them to the pinnacle of their sport, but also proves their undoing in this tragic story of Shakespearian proportions. Coming soon to theaters.
All This Mayhem is a searing account of what happens when raw talent and extreme personalities collide. In this unflinching, never-before-seen account of drugs and the dark side of professional skateboarding, brothers Tas and Ben Pappas’ intense bond and charisma take them from the pinnacle of their sport into a spiraling world of self-destruction.
This documentary tells the real-life story of Tas and Ben Pappas, two wildly charismatic brothers whose rise to fame in the world of professional skateboarding came with a dark side, and led to their fall into a world of self-destruction. All This Mayhem is the latest film from the makers of the award-winning documentaries Exit Through The Gift Shop and Senna.
