The U returns to ESPN's 30 for 30
SI.com
ESPN can't quit the University of Miami -- and that's good news for sports documentary viewers.
The network's ESPN Films division has ordered a second "30 for 30" documentary on Miami's football program following the immensely popular "The U" that aired in 2009. That doc focused on the fusion between the growing hip-hop culture in Miami and the swaggering football program that won four national titles between 1983 and 1991.
The working title for the upcoming film is "The U: Part 2" and reunites "The U" director Billy Corben and producer Alfred Spellman. The documentary will air this winter as part of ESPN's "30 for 30" series, and the running time is expected to be two hours.
"The original film followed the transformation from a Miami football program that went largely unnoticed to 'The U' and all that [associated with it] both on and off the field," said an ESPN Films spokesperson. "It became a cult classic and remains one of the most talked-about '30 for 30' films we've ever done. But that narrative didn't end in the early 90's and this sequel will pick up where the original left off."
Corben and Spellman started principal shooting last week -- Dolphins lineman Bryant McKinnie, who played on Miami's 2001 national championship team, has already sat down with the filmmakers -- and viewers should expect the net to be cast wide for subjects. Among the NFL-ers who played at Miami during the late 1990s and 2000s: Frank Gore, Devin Hester, Ray Lewis, Clinton Portis, Ed Reed, Warren Sapp, Jeremy Shockey, Jonathan Vilma, Reggie Wayne, Kellen Winslow Jr., Vince Wilfork, Willis McGahee, and Phillip Buchanon.