It's recovering an important piece of cultural history. It's so much of the roots of what we think of as dance today.

We tend to want to do films about things we know nothing about. It allows us to fall in love with our subjects as we're making the film. And hopefully some of that love comes through in the film and translates to the audience.

I turned 40 when we started this project. Early on, it became a search for a role model for the aging process. If I'm lucky enough to live that long, I want to lead a life exactly like Franklin and all these others have lived.

His backhand is much improved ... as well as his transition game and his volleys. He's getting to a point now where he's very comfortable up at the net. And now it's just getting the confidence to be able to do it in big matches.

These guys, especially Massu, Is capable of superhuman feats in terms of being able to be out on the court a ridiculous amount of time and coming back the next day and playing great tennis.

It's really fun to see something like that happen to a person who's dedicated, committed and [who's] put the work in.