Exclusive Interview With Adam Hootnick And David Jacoby On Son Of The Congo

Serge is really putting himself out there for the whole movie. Was he comfortable with all that?

Hootnick: I think it’s exhausting. Comfortable might not be exactly the right word, but he was willing. He never said no to anything. When other people would try to get in his car to ride with him, he’d kick whoever out and say that this (the film) is the priority. We talked before we started this, I asked, “Is there anything off limits? Is there anything you don’t want to talk about?” The only thing that we didn’t go into was that family meeting that he had. That was the only time he ever asked us to not shoot something. I totally respected that. It’s a burden. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a camera on you for 24-hours a day, but it’s difficult.

That’s one of the challenges of my job, how you try to make that as little of a burden as possible. But it’s real and it’s there. I think he was so intent on telling not just his story, but really the story of these kids who are growing up the way he grew up, he really wants to bring the world there and do whatever he can to help. If that meant a little more stress during his two week trip there, then so be it. He was going to do whatever I asked him to do. I have nothing but respect for him for his willingness to do that.

Jacoby: In today’s landscape, there’s the visibility to be searched. Everything you see and hear and read about, even Tweets and Instagram posts are carefully curated and screened and cleaned and perfect. For this project, that just wouldn’t work. You can’t halfway be the subject of a documentary and have a good documentary. You can’t say, “Oh Adam, meet me between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. while I do this thing.” Then you’re going to end up with a product that lacks authenticity. To Serge’s credit, and to Adam’s credit, they both did it fully and just allowed the project to happen.

This is the first Grantland film, what’s planned next?

Jacoby: We don’t have anything we’re willing to announce at the moment. We haven’t put this one out on the internet yet, so what’s next is releasing this for free on Grantland.

But is there other stuff coming soon? Or relatively soon?

Jacoby: Oh, absolutely. One of the best things about working at Grantland is we have no idea what’s going to be next. We didn’t plan on having a television show. We didn’t plan on having a feature film. We didn’t even plan on having video on the site when we originally conceived the site. One of the best parts about our job here at this website is we literally don’t know what’s going to happen next.

Hootnick: But the film’s going to be in serial form on Grantland.

Jacoby: Right, on March 23rd we’re going to release the film in five parts, so it’s a little bit more digestible for an internet audience. It’s going to have a special landing page and display that’ll make it really easy for the user to go from one chapter to the next and watch it on any device anywhere.

Hootnick: And we’re hoping that Jacoby is going to recreate all the photos of Serge from The Body Issue.

Jacoby: (Laughs) Yeah, that’s what’s next.

It’d be great for the landing page. 

Jacoby: Exactly, exactly.

Anything else you’re working on?

Hootnick: I just finished shooting a series of short pieces for the Clinton Foundation around the world on women’s issues they’re working on. So that’s pretty cool. And I’m going to do a commercial soon to make some money. And I’m working on a feature script. Hopefully do the first narrative sooner rather than later.

That concludes our interview, but I’d like to thank David and Adam for taking the time to talk with us. Son of the Congo can be seen on Grantland.com from 3/23-3/27 and then will make its TV Premiere on April 17 at 8pm EST on ESPN.