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For ‘Fruitvale Station’ Director Ryan Coogler, debut film gathers Oscar buzz – could be the start of greatness
The film opens with the actual mobile phone video of the incident and the chilling pop of the fatal gunshot. It then jumps back to chronicle Grant’s final day.
Michael B. Jordan, of TV show “Friday Night Lights,” plays Grant, a loving father and struggling ex-con. Octavia Spencer, an Oscar winner for her role in “The Help,” plays the mother who fears for his safety.
The other big takeaway for Coogler at film school was that filmmaking is a team sport, much like the football he loved.
“When I came to film school in Los Angeles, I had just finished playing my last season of college football, and I missed it, deeply,” he said.
With his incoming class, he found a group of filmmakers from all over the world with whom he began “crewing up and working on each other’s films.” He brought a half dozen of them aboard for “Fruitvale Station.”
A Standout From Day One
Coogler calls the three-year graduate program at the USC’s School of Cinematic Arts “really expensive.” Tuition for three years runs between US$72,000 and US$85,000 plus additional supplies and living expenses, the school says.
“I am still pretty heavy in debt,” he said. “Most of us who graduate have something like a mortgage to pay back. It can be close to six figures.”
