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Kobe Bryant to turn his farewell poem into animated short

It's called 'Dear Basketball.'

 

Christine Friar

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Posted on May 5, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 8:13 pm CDT

Kobe Bryant announced his retirement in November with a poem entitled Dear Basketball, and now he’s partnered with Sports Illustrated to make it an animated short for its digital properties. 

The deal was announced Thursday, and will include the premiere of Dear Basketball on SI.com in the fall, as well as a series of behind-the-scenes videos for SI Films walking viewers through the animation process.

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Bryant is set to narrate the short, with Glen Keane, the animator behind Disney favorites like Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast set to direct.

As if that weren’t enough, five-time Oscar-winning composer John Williams (you may know him from Star Wars, Jaws, the Indiana Jones movies, E.T., Jurassic Park, or the Harry Potter series, to name a few), will write the score.

With a lineup that powerful, it might make sense to get your tissues ready in advance. 

H/T Variety

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*First Published: May 5, 2016, 3:32 pm CDT