First off, can you let us know some of the logistics – when the movie comes out and where we can see it?
David: It comes out in theaters in Pittsburgh and all across the country and Puerto Rico today – you can see the website for how to buy tickets
On the 13th the Byham theater will show the movie, and PNC Park will show it this Sunday on National Roberto Clemente Day
I know there’s a lot of footage/content that hasn’t been seen before. How did you go about finding that footage and putting it all together?
David: We got the content from numerous sources. Major League Baseball of course has a great archive of him on the field. The Clemente Museum has he best photo archive of him in the world and they opened that up to us.
We also did some old-fashioned detective work. Duane Rieder who runs the Clemente Museum and is also Executive Producer of the film not only opened his archive to us, he had a lead on a set of interview tapes from a Puerto Rican journalist that were lost. We tracked those down – that took the better part of a year.
We also heard about some missing family home movies and had a lead on where to find them. That took a year as well to track down.
We also had great archival producers who were able to track down content – that’s what they do for a living.
Was there a certain approach each of you wanted to take with the movie – certain elements you wanted to bring out?
David: As far as putting it all together, we had incredible editors. Jon Lefkovitz from Pittsburgh did a great job. We also used Outpost for our post-production work to get us across the finish line.
The hardest thing was how to take all of this content and put it all into a cohesive format. We took his life and career and started to find certain themes that resurfaced a lot and wove those throughout the film.
Has it been frustrating to see other documentaries that didn’t incorporate your involvement? Were there things you feel others got wrong or just missed?
Roberto: Obviously everyone has their own motivations – the topic is in the public domain. There are a lot of stories and articles written about him – all have their own ways and styles. His story is very compelling so it’s hard to mess it up if you’re telling the truth. But the way we are connected to it makes it very special. My mother’s last interview for example is in the movie.
David: It was also paramount to have Roberto and his brothers involved in the film. It’s their story too – Luis, Enrique and Roberto. There was no way to do this without them.
What surprised each of you the most as you did your research on the movie?
Roberto: For me it was more confirmation on how he lived his life and influenced people. I heard stories that I hadn’t heard before. I had seen so much if it myself with my own eyes already.
To see the footage of them playing a recording of my first cry after I was born in the hospital to my father. That was a very emotional moment.
David: What stood out to me was how deeply people still feel the grief of his loss. Naively, I thought that after 50-plus years that may have subsided. But his friends and teammates – even fans who never met him – they still weep when they talk about New Years Day in 1973. It just shows how profoundly he impacted people.
What’s missing from today’s sports environment that makes Roberto Clemente still such an icon today?
Roberto: We’re missing him. He was a leader – he showed it by example. Players today are doing a great job doing great things off the field, but there’s still a disconnect – athletes don’t see ourselves as role models. And we should. Now with social media we need more parameters to make sure we’re guiding young minds the right way.
David: I think what we are missing is the element of acts of kindness in secret. Not every act of kindness and charitable event needs to be a press or PR moment. Roberto Clemente didn’t do it for the publicity – he just wanted to lift people up.
Why was he so driven as a player and person who gave back?
Roberto: He was born that way. At a young age his school’s fence was falling so he started a collection to get it fixed. That’s just who he was. His mother and father instilled the values of working hard. He had to work to earn his first bicycle. The Marines helped too – it was another great structure to help build the man that became him.
David: I have a theory to run by you Roberto I’d love your thoughts on – a partial theory. Tell me if you think I’m wrong. I think what may have shaped who he was was the suffering that his family endured as a child and what he was surrounded by. The loss of his sister and brother, his injury… Do you think that helped shape his empathetic nature?
Roberto: Absolutely. You can sense that in the documentary – the hard-hitting facts of life. But he could have become bitter and angry and he didn’t do that. He stayed positive. I think the bad he used as fuel to pound the ball.
He was a very humble person. He put things on himself. When he got to a place in his career to have a platform in 1955, he decided he was going to carry the flag for Latino people – the marginalized hard-working people.
In a time with so much divisiveness, how important is a movie like this from your perspective – to discuss how people can navigate divisiveness and be on the right side of history?
Roberto: We live in a time where the word “Hate” is thrown around like nothing. A lot of blame has been given to the media for shifting people’s emotions towards hate. I’ve heard people around me talk about that – it hurts. When another human attacks you physically or verbally just because of your beliefs. You have to be able to have respectful talks and be good listeners. I hope that is something people take from this movie.
What do you want people to take away from this movie, David?
David: That our lives matter. Small acts of kindness and sacrifice matter. When Roberto got on that plane he didn’t know it would be his final act of kindness, empathy and generosity. It was just what needed to be done. I hope people seeing the movie will be inspired to show kindness and help those who are marginalized – even if its just giving a Gatorade to a homeless person. We need to look for the humanity in each other.