EXCLUSIVE: Millions of people have walked a mile in Stan Smith’s shoes – everyone from former President Obama to Taylor Swift, Pharrell Williams, Kendal Jenner, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, and countless others.
Tennis fans know the man behind the iconic brand of Adidas kicks as a Wimbledon and U.S. Open champ, one of the greatest American players of all time. But the full story of Stan the man, his courageous activism and how he became synonymous with an immensely popular tennis shoe, is told in the new documentary Who Is Stan Smith? Way before Air Jordans, there were Stan Smiths.
A Stan Smith Adidas tennis shoe in a shoe shop in Munich, Germany.
Fabian Nitschmann/picture alliance via Getty Images
The film directed by Danny Lee and executive produced by LeBron James, Maverick Carter, and Donald Dell among others, opens Friday at the Nuart Theater in Los Angeles, and on May 10 at New York City’s Angelika Film Center. It expands to 50 markets through May, including Washington, DC, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, San Diego, Honolulu, San Francisco, and more.
We have your first look at the film in the clip above, a sequence that explains the origins of Smith’s collaboration with Adidas. It’s a curious tale involving a late-night meeting at a risqué nightclub in Paris with Horst Dassler, son of the founder of Adidas.
Stan Smith holds the trophy after winning Wimbledon in 1972.
Getty Images
Who Is Stan Smith? explores “the groundbreaking athlete who went from being one of the world’s greatest tennis stars, to a leading civil rights and AIDS activist, blazing a trail along the way with his namesake Adidas sneakers – the iconic shoe that has become a fashion statement for hip hop musicians and celebrities for more than 50 years,” notes a synopsis of the documentary. “The film features extensive interviews with Stan Smith, his family, and many of the world’s most famous athletes and celebrities including John McEnroe, Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels, and Donald Dell… Who Is Stan Smith? is a powerful and inspiring portrait of the man behind the shoe that became a movement.”
Adidas originally launched the shoe in 1965, tying the model to French tennis player Robert Haillet. About a decade later, the company sought to brand the footwear around a prominent American player. That’s where Smith came in.
“When I signed the contract, I thought it might be a three-year deal or a five-year deal,” Smith said last year during an appearance on the Sneakers Complex Podcast. “I was in the right place at the right time. They wanted to get a stronger presence in the United States. No one knew who Robert [Haillet] was in the United States. They knew that’s a big market for them and it’s going to be growing, and that’s how it all happened.”
Stan Smith
Carmen Mandato/Getty Images for Laver Cup
Who Is Stan Smith? Is produced by Uninterrupted, the athlete storytelling brand within The SpringHill Company and produced in association with Calico. Independent distribution company Monkey Wrench Films is shepherding the theatrical release. The documentary is executive produced by LeBron James (Hustle, Space Jam: A New Legacy), Maverick Carter (Hustle, Space Jam: A New Legacy), Jamal Henderson (Hustle, Space Jam: A New Legacy), Alexandra Dell (Arthur Ashe, Lace Up: The Ultimate Sneaker Challenge), and Donald Dell (Tennis Our Way, Citizen Ashe).
Watch the clip from the film above.
As a bonus, you can watch the trailer for the documentary below: