HBO is in production on a Barry Bonds documentary from the producer of OJ: Made In America and executive producers of The Last Dance.
One of the most talented and polarizing athletes of the last 30 years will finally get the sports documentary treatment. HBO and Words + Pictures are in production on a Barry Bonds documentary that will include the legendary and controversial slugger’s firsthand experiences.
Keith McQuirter, who won the 2021 NAACP Image Award for directing “By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem,” will direct the project. Ezra Edelman, who won an Academy Award in 2017 for producing “O.J.: Made In America” will serve as an executive producer alongside McQuirter and the duo of Connor Schell and Libby Geist, who helped create ESPN‘s “30 For 30” documentary series and executive produced “The Last Dance.”
A diverse cast of influential figures in Bonds’ life and baseball career will participate and give Bonds a chance to clear the air himself in this currently untitled film.
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“Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1990s, Barry Bonds was the ultimate superstar. You couldn’t escape his name or his game, his story, or his personality,” McQuirter said. “Every time he stepped up to the plate, the energy was electric because he wasn’t just competing with his contemporaries, he was competing with history.”
The single-season and career MLB home run champion was dogged by allegations of performance enhancing drug use throughout the latter part of his storied tenure with the San Francisco Giants. The documentary goes back to his early days as the son of All-Star outfielder Bobby Bonds and the godson of all-time great Willie Mays, running up to the 1990s and 2000s when he dominated that game like few in history with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Giants. You can’t tell the story of baseball and sports as a whole at the turn of the millennium without Bonds being prominently featured, which this film will attempt to spotlight.
“Bonds was undoubtedly controversial, but no matter how you felt about him, his pursuit of becoming the greatest player of all time was mesmerizing,” McQuirter said. “Through a series of interviews, we will illuminate the untold story of Bonds, providing an intimate look behind the scenes. It will all add up to a complex journey that was one of the most enduring and consequential tales in American sports history, a tale I can’t wait to tell.”
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