CHICAGO — Are you tall, have an accent and can play hoops?
Daniel Poneman is looking for you.
The former Edgewater and Lincoln Park resident has been hired to find five basketball players for a movie called "Amateur." The film stars a young teen who competes with a group of older ballers who are all from different countries.
Poneman, 24, who's probably best known for being the first person to discover and interview Anthony Davis when he played AAU ball, was tasked with finding a handful of hoopsters for the movie, which will begin shooting in March.
Poneman, who moved to Brooklyn last year, has been searching his former home for talent. People interested can email him directly at danielponeman@gmail.com.
Of course, he knows hundreds of current and former basketball players who could fit the bill, but it's a bit tricky finding the right ones. Current players might have competing commitments at school and graduates might be older than the character is written to be, said the director for "Amateur," Ryan Koo. The would-be actors have to either be U.S. citizens or have a work visa, Poneman said.
"Most sports movies star actors who aren't convincing practitioners of the sport, and the believability of the film is damaged as a result," Koo said. "We were looking for someone to help with our efforts to audition elite basketball players instead of actors who list basketball as one of many skills. Daniel fit the bill perfectly as someone with a foot in both the basketball and film worlds."
Poneman started his hoops career while a student at Evanston Township High School as a college basketball scout. He's still looking for future college basketball standouts, but Poneman's also started to dab in film.
"I've always been a networker," Poneman said. "I was getting a little bored with the recruiting business, so this has been a nice new thing."
His first soiree was a short piece called "Ball So Hard" about then-high school sophomores Tyquone Greer, Paul White and Jahlil Okafor. Poneman is working on a full-length documentary starring Orr Academy's Greer, who was shot in the leg and a few days later made a game-winning shot in the IHSA basketball playoffs, called "Shot in the Dark" that he hopes to release next January.
Last year, Poneman was hired to teach basketball to actress Elizabeth Alderfer, who played one of the lead roles in "Game Day," which starred Romeo Miller and was shot in Chicago, including Hyde Park. For three weeks, Poneman worked with Alderfer for three hours a day on basketball skills. He said her game improved dramatically, and by the time filming began, "she could play," Poneman said.
Poneman plans to move back to Chicago in part to build on the annual "SwagAir Showcase" basketball tournament he hosts. The event invites senior and junior basketball players who haven't received scholarships. Last year, of the 150 players present, more than half inked college scholarships, Poneman said.
"My vision is to build this Showcase model into more events and more programs," Poneman said.
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