RISE on Disney+ is the inspirational story of the Antetokounmpo family, perhaps the most famous being Giannis Antetokounmpo, also know as the Greek Freak in the basketball world. Many know that Giannis and his brothers came from humble beginnings, but there are many details fans may be surprised to find out.
Giannis says his family’s story is amazing. “Everybody talks about us, about me, Thanasis, Kostas and Alex and Francis, but they always leave out our parents you know, my dad and my mom. We knew that one day we gonna tell them who the real heroes of this story is, of this journey is…my parents.” If you’re familiar with the family, then you know 4 of the 5 brothers are basketball stars, some with championships rings and MVP awards, but it’s been a hard road with many obstacles.
Writer Arash Amel said it’s a story of a very modern world “where immigration and sort of cultural identity actually is sort of at the very root of it.” He praises the Antetokounmpo family as a generous family that allowed them into their lives to be able to tell that story.
Director Akin Omotoso said that anybody that knows him, knows he’s a basketball fanatic. He was very fascinated by the NBS draft, especially African players in the draft. So when Giannis was drafted in the 2013 NBA draft and he found out his story, Akin thought to himself, if I ever make a movie about basketball and life, it would be this story. And here he is! “I love the story of perseverance. The story of overcoming.”
Although this family lived through their journey, some of the brothers were younger during the events of the film. Alex Antetokounmpo said,”Seeing the stuff that my mom and my dad went through, just seeing it acted out, rather than just hearing it and hearing the stories about it, I think was very touching for us.”
One of the cool things about Rise on Disney+ is that two real-life brothers play Thanasis and Giannis (Ral and Uche Agada) in the film. When talking about the casting, Ral said that Uche had already gotten the role as Giannis and called Ral up and asked if he wanted to try out for the older brother. He was like, “Whaaat?” He didn’t think that’s how things worked casting a brother with a real brother. But it all worked out and their natural chemistry on-screen was evident.
When writing the film Amel said “part of the challenge was how to maintain that family story, and not allow the sports aspect to overwhelm it.” His parents were immigrants and he wanted to show that the sports was the tool and opportunity to their new identity, the method to ‘rise up.’ “It was always a family movie, first and a sports movie, second, for me.”
Rise is emotional and inspirational and talks about real heroes. It is now streaming on Disney+.