For instance, the dad is sort of this amalgamation of who I wanted my dad to be. This theme comes across most of your works what was your upbringing like? And for this show, where does your experience end and where do your characters begin?ĪLEXANDER: There are parts of me in each of these characters, from Josh and JB to Mom and Dad. How do you adapt to these things that are happening in your life that you don’t think you have control over or you don’t have control over? How do you stay focused? How do you stay successful? How do you stay sane in the midst of all the chaos that’s happening? And so, when life crosses you over, are you going to fall off balance? Are you going to pick yourself back up? To extend the metaphor even further, how do you rebound?ĭerek Luke and Sabrina Revelle as Chuck Bell and Crystal Bell in The Crossover Disney/Alyssa MoranĭEADLINE: The series does a great job blending the emotional beats and drama to create this intimate coming-of-age story about two boys torn between athletic and academic aspirations. So, basketball, in general, and The Crossover, in particular, they’re metaphors for me with this story. Never let other people try to lower your goals or your expectations. No one’s going to lower my son’s goal.” And so, the idea was, my dad said, “He doesn’t know he can’t make the shot.” That’s always resonated with me I view it as a metaphor for life. So, this playground supervisor came over, my dad tells me, and tried to lower the goal. And for a three-year-old kid to shoot 12, 14 feet to the basket, there’s no way you’ll be able to get the ball that high. One day, he asked me to shoot free throws. He would take me to the basketball court as a three-year-old to let me dribble and shoot. When I was three years old, my father, who had been a basketball star in college in the Air Force, he was studying to get his doctorate in education at Columbia University. That’s the literal translation of what it means. So, it’s really to throw the opponent off balance and get around them. Now if you’re really good, you do it to the other hand, but then you do it back to the other hand it’s a double cross. So, they’re trying to sort of throw the opponent off balance. KWAME ALEXANDER: A crossover is a move where a player dribbles the ball with one hand, and the defensive player looks at that ball, and then the player dribbles it quickly to their right hand. I recommend everyone to check out The Crossover because, I promise, it has something for everybody.”īelow, Alexander further discusses the importance of representation, his influential upbringing, and bringing his novel to life onscreen.ĭEADLINE: Besides being an appropriate sports term for the show, what does The Crossover mean to you in usage as a vehicle for themes in the series? Problems such as mental health, ADHD, illnesses, young love, and drifting apart from the people you love. I love how the show does a great job of attacking problems healthily and maturely. The Crossover represents family, love, loyalty, friendship and many other core values I hold close to my heart. “It is crucial to see our faces, Black faces, in a different light than we usually do. O’Neil, whose character, Jordan, suffers from the effects of ADHD, also expressed the importance of embodying this role onscreen. Black kids all over the world can see themselves in these characters, and that’s a movement I’m happy to be a part of.” “I also believe that having authentic and uplifting portrayals of Black kids onscreen is a huge step in the right direction often, you don’t see that, but now with The Crossover, you can. “I believe that realistic and relatable coming-of-age stories are really important in today’s society, as they allow people, particularly teenagers, to connect with the world in a deeper way,” Hall said. Hall told Deadline about the significance of being a part of a series that centers on two young Black male teens. WGA & AMPTP Talks "Encouraging" Today More Negotiations Set For Tomorrow
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