Since GameRoom magazine printed a three-part series of articles when
The King of Kong was released in theaters, we thought it would be a fun idea to get a behind-the-scenes perspective from them to celebrate the newly-released DVD of the movie and fuel more of it's discussion on VGEvo. Part two is below, with part three to follow soon. We hope you enjoy the series!
The King of Controversy
How the King of Kong Documentary Rocked the World of Competitive Videogaming
By Mitch Gerson
Reprinted with permission from GameRoom Magazine, September 2007. Article Copyright © 2007 GameRoom Magazine. All rights reserved.
I am fascinated with just how passionate folks are about the movie and its stars. By now, I hope that you may have had an opportunity to see the movie and make your own personal judgments about the film and its story. If not, it will only be a matter of time before the movie comes to your area so that you will have the opportunity to see what all the fuss is about for yourself. In a very short span of time after the August issue of GameRoom hit with the article I was contacted by the public relations company behind the King of Kong indicating that the Director, Seth Gordon; the Producer Ed Cunningham, and one of the stars, Steve Sanders (a good friend of Billy’s) all wished to add their comments as a follow up to the article and Walter Day’s interview. This was too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I crafted some questions that I had in mind for each of them and their comments are below. I believe it gives some additional insight into the movie, its stars and of course the folks who put it all together. All of the answers are unedited, which I think adds another great dimension to the film (kind of like DVD extras).
We set out to make a traditional sports documentary where the focus of the film (the sport) would be a classic arcade title. We looked into stories behind Q-Bert, Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, etc... and all roads led to Billy Mitchell, who either held the record or knew the history or both.
When did it become apparent that the story was really about Steve and Billy?
SETH: When we visited Billy for the first time it was clear that Donkey Kong was his most prized title. We already knew that after many years of holding the title without a chal*lenger, he finally had a rival in Steve, and yet Billy would not say Steve’s name. We found this very interesting and decided to look deeper into the story.
You’ve mentioned repeatedly that Billy has refused to watch the movie. Why do you think that is?
SETH: I think Billy has had so many pieces made about him that it’s rarely worth his time to watch them all. I think now that he’s read some of the early reviews of the film online and is hesitant to engage further.
Do you believe that the sequence of events are accurately portrayed?
SETH: I know they are. We joined the story in 2005 and continued filming regularly through early 2007. The film accurately represents what transpired while we covered the story and provides considerable historical context so an audience might understand the stakes of the rivalry.
Has the film been edited to tell a story that’s different from the actual course of events to make it into a more dramatic film?
SETH: We were lucky to find an incredibly exciting story that took many surprising twists and turns. Of course the nature of doc filmmaking is that you can’t cover every nuance of every event that occurs while you follow the story, partly because it’s impossible to be present for everything and partly because an exhaustive chronicle of every single moment would be too long for the average viewer. We shot 350 hours of footage and the film is just under 90 minutes.
What do you make of all of the controversy about this film within the retro gaming world?
SETH: The controversy preceded our documentary. I think the film has simply increased the amount of attention the controversy has gotten.
Did you ever imagine that you would have the opportunity to present this as a national release?
SETH: We dreamed of that outcome, and are humbled by the opportunity to share our film with audiences nationwide.
If you could do the movie differently, what would you change? Do you see an eventual DVD with extras coming out that may tell more of the story?
SETH: If we had infinite resources (and time) I suppose we’d cover the story forever, as the saga has continued since we had to complete our work on the feature. There will be wonderful DVD extras that explore more of the story and more of the characters that didn’t make the final cut of the feature.
How do you feel about Walter Day’s perspective of the film and how folks are portrayed and events are sequenced?
SETH: As video game referee for the world, I think Walter is often caught in the middle of intense controversies about the validity of video game records. I think there are times when he’d like the Donkey Kong saga to simply go away, and under those circumstances I think he has remained incredibly balanced throughout.
ED CUNNINGHAM, Producer
As Producer, what exactly was your role this film?
ED: It would probably take everyone who worked on the film several hours to explain their role. When you run as lean as we did, one day you could be watching 8 hours of footage to find just the right moment, and the next you may be flying across the country to cover a tournament. When Seth Gordon, the director and I decided this was a subject worth pursuing, we shook hands on it, and off we went. We always tried to have an open, collaborative environment with the central goal being to make the best film possible.
I understand that you found out about Steve Wiebe through one of Steve’s close friends. What was your original intent when you contacted Steve? Was it just to chronicle his quest for a high score?
ED: I met Steve through a friend of mine who thought Steve’s struggle to gain recognition for his Donkey Kong score was a fascinating story. Once we began researching competitive classic arcade gaming, we knew we would be able to find a story worth telling within this world. We ended up pursuing several stories, from Abdner Ashman’s pursuit of the Ms. Pac-Man record to 80 year old Doris Self ’s attempt to reclaim her Q*Bert record, but in the end, it was the amazing twists and turns of Steve’s journey that became the most compelling to us.
When did it become apparent to you that this was no longer a simple story of someone trying to obtain a high score, but more a character study into the world of competitive gaming?
ED: For me, it was witnessing the events in and around the 7th Annual Funspot Tournament. It was apparent that there was more at stake than just high scores, and it became very interesting for me to see what was happening behind the scenes, and that became a more universal story than someone simply trying to set a high score.
Do you believe that the sequence of events are accurately portrayed?
ED: We went to painstaking lengths to truthfully retell the events as we witnessed them. It was so interesting to us, that our job in editing was to convey what we saw. We hoped audi*ences would be as engrossed in the story as we were, and we have yet to find one that is not.
Has the film been edited to tell a story that’s different from the actual course of events to make a more dramatic film?
ED: As stated above, we stand behind the film and how it presents the story. When met with the challenge of condensing a 5-year saga into 84 minutes, not everyone is going to agree with some of the choices that have to be made, but we worked very hard in editing to a truthful story.
What do you make of all of the controversy about this film within the retro gaming world?
ED: Whenever a documentary film is made about a group that takes their pursuits so passionately, there is bound to be some within the community who find fault with how they are represented. We hope everyone within the classic gaming world will actually see the film at some point and then decide how they feel.
How do you feel about Walter Day’s perspective of the film and how folks are portrayed and events are sequenced?
ED: The chase for the Donkey Kong record has been the most difficult challenge of Walter’s 25+ years as the world’s video game scorekeeper, and it must be a very emotional thing to see it boiled down to its essence and presented in this format. In the end, Walter is an amazing man, whose passion to bring glory to people through their excellence in video games is a noble venture, and I believe anyone who sees the film will agree with this sentiment. Walter and I have always been able to openly discuss many challenging topics, including when we have a difference of opinion, and I trust this will be no different.
Anything that you may wish to add?
ED: We appreciate your coverage, and in the end, audience members will have to decide for themselves what they think of the film. We look forward to hearing their thoughts.
STEVE SANDERS, Co-Star. Close personal friend of Billy Mitchell
You have an interesting history with Billy, could you tell us about that for those who are not familiar with who you are?
STEVE: Bill and I became friends initially via our frequent telephone calls to each other. Walter Day introduced us in May or June of 1982. We spoke very frequently and finally met at the Life Magazine event in November of 1982. That was the first ever head-to-head tournament of the nation’s best video game players. Billy Mitchell shellacked me on Donkey Kong. Within a few months after that, I confessed to the video game community that I had lied about my high scores. Billy quickly forgave me and we continued to talk on the phone. We met again at several Twin Galaxies events and we were on the 1st official National Video Game team, a team on which I had the good fortune of being named team captain. Even after the first team disbanded, Billy and I remained friends and spoke frequently on the phone. Later, during the “dark years” of classic arcade gaming, Billy and I didn’t talk as often. We saw each other only twice and spoke on the phone about once or twice per year. In the late ‘90s, once the arcade emulators hit and classic gaming began to make a comeback, Billy and I began speaking again quite frequently. By the time the documentarians came to visit us, Billy and I had become so close in our friendship that we were talking every day. Billy Mitchell is one of my best, dearest friends. I have a ton of admiration and respect for him as a man, a husband, a father, an entrepreneur, a man of the community, and as a gamer.
I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, the film accurately shows all of the Billy that Billy wanted to reveal to the cameras. However, there were several things he didn’t want to talk about and I know that he assumed that if he didn’t talk about them, then those topics wouldn’t make it into the movie.
Did you know at any point during the filming that this was going to be a Billy Vs. Steve story? Was that ever made clear to you?
STEVE: No, not at all. From what I know about that, the Billy vs. Steve story was one story-thread among many that the filmmakers were pursuing. They told me (and I believe) that they were making a movie about competitive gaming in general. The Billy vs. Steve story literally evolved right in front of them while they were filming. I know that some people believe that they planned this story line all along. The most obvious refutation of that is that most of the events depicted in the film happened after they began shooting the film. Further, these guys captured scores of hours of footage that had nothing to do with Billy vs. Steve. They would never have gone to that time, trouble, and expense if they knew all along what the plot would be.
How long after the filming took place did you see the final product? What was your immediate impression?
STEVE: I first saw the film at the True/False film festival in Columbia, Missouri, about a month after Slamdance. I watched it sitting right next to Steve Wiebe. I loved the film. I clapped and cheered along with the rest of the audience. Afterwards, I was sickened that the audience (during Q&A) were obviously vilifying Billy. That made me sad.
I’ve been told that Billy is not interested in seeing the film. As a close friend of Billy why do you think that is?
STEVE: Who would want to see a film, TV show, or anything else that makes you out to be a Machiavellian villain? I wouldn’t. Would Tiger Woods want to watch a movie that made it look like he was keeping Phil Mickelson down? I doubt it. Tiger is a great champion. So is Billy.
In your opinion, what you do you think Billy makes of all of this?
STEVE: You’d have to ask him. I only know that he is hurt and unhappy.
How do you feel about Walter Day’s perspective of the film and how folks are portrayed and events are sequenced?
STEVE: I think that Walter’s comments are mostly correct. I largely agree. You asked about how folks are portrayed, and I think that (apart from what I’ve said about Billy) the only two people who are misrepresented in the film are Brian Kuh and Perry Rodgers – and they are grossly misrepresented. The movie leaves the audience with the impression that those two “broke in” to Steve’s house and “broke in” to his Kong machine. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately, the film edits out most of that narrative and only those who know the whole story can see the film and recognize the actual events. In the film, talking about the Kuh-Rodgers visit to the Wiebe home, Nicole Wiebe says “I wish they (Kuh and Rodgers) could have just left my mother alone.” Here is what actually happened. Kuh & Rodgers knocked on the Wiebe’s front door. Nicole and her mother were home, Steve was not (yet) home, and Nicole had to leave. She asked Brian & Perry to wait outside for Steve to come home. They did as she asked and went back to their car. Nicole’s mother apparently felt bad for them. She offered to let them in to the garage to play the Kong machine. She opened the garage door to let them in. They played Kong until Steve got home. Once he was there, Brian & Perry asked Steve to show them the inside of the machine. He happily complied and opened the machine for them and showed them the boards. Everything was happy and smooth. Then Brian & Perry noticed a shipping box for the Kong board. They saw Roy Shildt’s name and return address. They knew what a bad character Roy was. That was when the wheels came off. That was when the series of events depicted in Kong began to unfold. Once you know those details, if you watch the film again, you’ll see that the movie actually confirms what I have told you.
Anything that you may wish to add?
STEVE: Billy Mitchell is not merely the greatest classic arcade gamer of our era, his is the greatest of all time. But more importantly, he is a good man, a good friend, and a good husband and father. May God bless Billy Mitchell.
The King of Kong article series (Part Two)
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