Miami Hurricanes football told by rakontur filmmakers (Miami New Times)

Francisco Alvarado's feature in the Miami New Times:

Miami Hurricanes football told by rakontur filmmakers

...Like Corben and Spellman's 2006 cult hit, Cocaine Cowboys, The U explores an important cog in Miami's flashy outlaw history. The film places the Hurricanes' success against the backdrop of a city torn apart by the race riots of the '80s. "It was a very tumultuous time," Spellman notes. "And it was right around that time the university started to go into Miami's inner-city neighborhoods to recruit players."

A pair of brash North Miami Beach natives who inject their films with a muckraking style, Corben and Spellman in 2001 were the youngest filmmakers ever to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Their documentary Raw Deal: A Question of Consent explored an alleged rape at a university frat house.

They followed up with the critically acclaimed Cocaine Cowboys, a gritty, breathless account of the violent drug-fueled era that built modern Miami. The success of that film resulted in spinoffs such as a coffee-table book, a sequel, and a deal with Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Bay, and HBO to produce a fictional television series.

The genesis of The U came in 2007 before the Hurricanes played their last season in the Orange Bowl, which was torn down a year later. Spellman and Corben met with ESPN executives and worked out a deal to do the documentary. The channel slotted the project for its 30 for 30 series, a slate of 30 documentaries about the 30 most significant sports stories during ESPN's 30-year history. Spellman and Corben joined an elite stable of filmmakers including Barry Levinson and Peter Berg

Staying true to their hyperkinetic filmmaking style, Corben and Spellman use archival news footage and engaging interviews to tell the story of the Hurricanes. The executive producers even persuaded Luther Campbell, former frontman of 2 Live Crew who used to pay UM defensive players bounties for vicious hits, to write a new rap theme song for The U...

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