Pheonix Suns point guard Steve Nash has some of the highest stats in the NBA, but what he really wants to do is direct. Yeah, it's the age old story, but Nash has aspirations to be a filmmaker. ESPN will give him that chance when he directs a part in their 30/30 series of athletically inspired documentaries. Nash has chosen Terry Fox, the Canadian runner who ran the Marathon of Hope on a prosthetic leg. It's a step up from the Nike commercials he's produced, so Nash chatted about his plans, the Suns and his charity over the summer.

CraveOnline: Are you setting up a retirement plan with filmmaking?

Steve Nash: Yeah, I think for me, when I finish playing basketball, there will be a big hole in creativity and challenges in my life. So this is an area that I'm really passionate about. It's an area that offers me a creative outlet, a place to challenge myself and a place to learn. So I'm setting myself up to fulfill those things and have something that I'm passionate about when I'm done playing basketball.

CraveOnline: Do you have an end date in sight?

Steve Nash: I don't. I know I'll probably play at least two years but it could be four or five more.

CraveOnline: What did you think of the Terry Fox movie with Robert Duvall?

Steve Nash: I haven't seen it yet. We're trying to get a hold, they're very hard to get a hold of one. Also there's a documentary made in Canada I haven't seen yet. So there's a lot of materials out there to see. There's also a lot of footage existing or otherwise that we've got to pour over. The story is indelibly in my imagination, in my head.

CraveOnline: Do you think this generation has forgotten about him?

Steve Nash: Well, I think in America, it is a bit of a forgotten story. The majority of people I ask don't know who he is, especially the younger generation. And the people that do know him, you generally vaguely know or remember the name so I think there's really an appetite or an audience that will understand and enjoy this film.

CraveOnline: Will you be interviewing his family?

Steve Nash: The interesting thing about this project, especially as a first time filmmaker is that I could make this film on existing footage. Obviously, we hope that we have some interesting angles to cover and a new and compelling way to tell the story which we're developing now but there's so much out there for us to pour over as it is. Then we'll compile all that and our feelings about it and then we'll decide what we want to pick up, who we want to talk to but there are so many people out there, depending on our angle, that would be really fascinating to interview.

CraveOnline: But when would you have time to make it?

Steve Nash: We're going to do it in the next year, possibly year and a half because 30 films is a lot of films. Depending on where we fit in, we'll probably do some preproduction in August, get the momentum going and pour over a lot of footage and start to basically write an outline of how we want to tell the story. During the season, I guess there's a lot of time, like I said. It's not like we have a ton of locations. All this stuff is existing and it's in my mind and my childhood. It's not that big a deal that I haven't seen the film on him yet. Of course I want to watch it because I'm making a film about it but I lived it. So I'm excited to tell the story to a new audience.

CraveOnline: When you direct Nike commercials, how much creative freedom do you have since they have their brand and their direction?

Steve Nash: Interestingly enough, the first one I did, Training Day, I had total creative freedom. They really weren't involved at all. They gave me a small budget and I basically wrote, pitched, produced, hired a director and cinematographer and made it. It was a great experience. The second one, my cousin who's a director directed and was a concept he came up with, I helped him develop to what we shot, the $60 Million Man, so they weren't involved in that either.

CraveOnline: What have you learned about filmmaking through these short experiences?

Steve Nash: There's not that many game days, so you have to get your hands dirty to learn, especially if you don’t get a chance to go to film school. I want to get out there and learn and work and write and develop and learn to develop those skills and tell stories. I love telling stories and I love to hear a great story. I love to watch films so it all just makes a lot of sense to me to get my hands dirty.

CraveOnline: What about the business aspect?

Steve Nash: That's the thing. I think there's a lot of NBA players that are into film, which is great. Some of them are very clever and have some great ideas. The slightly different thing about my interest is I want to really be a filmmaker, not a producer. While there's obviously an aspect of producing to all filmmakers, I really want to learn about writers, directors, cinematographers, actors, the art of filmmaking less so than maybe the art of financing the films. That can be an art as well, so I have learned a lot, obviously on the fly about what it takes to finance a film and line budgets and how you can make something work but I think the most interesting thing to me that has become apparent is that you just need money to make a film.

CraveOnline: Will this be geared more to tell Terry Fox's story to Americans?

Steve Nash: Hopefully it'll be a film that it doesn't matter where you're from, it doesn't matter if you've seen every article and news clipping or piece of footage on Terry Fox ever. It's still compelling to you. But it's an opportunity to tell it to America. If this were a 30/30 in Canada, I probably wouldn't have pitched Terry Fox. It's been told, everyone knows it and it's like let's tell something that people don’t know much about. I think that's the opportunity in the states. Most people I ask in America if they know who Terry Fox is don't, and those who do, many of them just vaguely remember the name. So obviously I think there's a story to tell to Americans which is exciting.

CraveOnline: Have you always had this side of you?

Steve Nash: I think the things that I love about basketball is an opportunity to challenge myself and be creative and to learn and grow. So where can I do that when I'm done playing? What I'm most passionate about is filmmaking and films and soccer and being a dad. Those are kind of like my real passions so I'm probably not going to be a professional soccer player at 45.

CraveOnline: Are you a hockey fan?

Steve Nash: I am, but not to the level that I am a soccer fan and I don't have the same passion for it as I do filmmaking.

CraveOnline: Your stats are so high as it is, what do you work on when you go into training?

Steve Nash: Well, I think I just try to stay sharp, continue to work on my skills, my athleticism and be as fit and as healthy as I can so that hopefully my skill level stays the same or gets a little bit level. The experience and hopefully wisdom that I've gained in my career will allow me to use my skills better so I can still make improvement without necessarily having to reinvent the wheel.

CraveOnline: Those rare times when you miss a free throw, does it hit you even harder?

Steve Nash: Yeah, I think the biggest thing about sports is dealing with failure, so it stings a little bit. You're mad at yourself but it's about brushing it off so that it doesn't affect the next play.

CraveOnline: Where do you see the balance between strategy and raw talent/skill on the court?

Steve Nash: Well, I think that strategy and intelligence are unmistakenly important. You can have the most talented athlete or even the most skillful, but if he's not intelligent, willing to be strategic and work within the concept of the team, then there's going to be fatal flaws. He's not going to be very successful. His teammates aren't going to like playing with him so there's a huge balance and a huge need to find that balance.

CraveOnline: And you are regarded for your leadership and teamwork. Is teamwork missing in a lot of the NBA today?

Steve Nash: I think it's coming back. I think teamwork this year, we saw a common thread. The Lakers, teamwork was a big part of their resurgence. Kobe's MVP, a big part of that was teamwork. The Celtics obviously have great teamwork. I think you're seeing a lot of teams, especially in the west, there are so many teams that you have to play as a team or you don’t have a chance to make the playoffs again. I think it's back en vogue.

CraveOnline: What are the Suns chances this season?

Steve Nash: I think good. I think obviously like we just said, teamwork, toughness, attitude, those are the things that every championship team has. A lot of teams that don't have a championship have talent but teamwork, toughness, competitiveness and camaraderie, you have to have. If we can build those things, we have a chance, a good chance.

CraveOnline: Will the documentary be first person, including the impact he's had on you?

Steve Nash: We have thought about that. My instinct is no but it's possible. I really think the story stands on its own and I think the story's greater without my point of view necessarily. Hopefully my point of view is in every frame of what we put together but I don't think me personally is necessary because I think it's such an amazing story about an amazing person, I don't want to dilute it or confuse it by telling people.

CraveOnline: What were the first films that influenced you and got you excited about filmmaking?

Steve Nash: Well, obviously Star Wars and ET and all those, The Bad News Bears, all those films that were great as a child. I've seen a lot obviously now, but as a child, as a kid and teenager, you went to a lot of great films in the theater but I think few did you have that sensational cinematic experience.

CraveOnline: What about nonfiction films, documentaries?

Steve Nash: You know what? I didn't watch many documentaries until probably when Hoop Dreams came out. Then I realized wow, what an incredible medium for telling a story equal to feature films, just with a different slant. So I've become extremely interested in documentaries as well.

CraveOnline: Are you logging the archive footage now?

Steve Nash: Yeah, basically reading books, archival footage and interviewing people who wrote books and experienced it. Then what we actually want to do is after we've compiled as much data and footage as we can, draw an outline of how we want to tell the story, how we want to create a really lasting impression on people's minds and tell the story in the best possible way.

CraveOnline: Is it intimidating?

Steve Nash: Yeah, a little bit but it's also exciting and if things aren't intimidating, maybe they're not as worth it so it's nice to have a challenge. The one thing about this project is when we make our first film, it'll be a lot more about us. This is really a lot more about the story, especially in light of the fact that it has been told ad nauseum, just not to necessarily this market. So it's really about the story.

CraveOnline: How is the Foundation going?

Steve Nash: The Foundation is going great. Thank you. We're continuing to learn and do new things and make new relationships with people and hopefully help so many kids around the world, more and more each year.

CraveOnline: Are there any new projects in particular?

Steve Nash: Well, we are starting to develop a relationship with Athletes for Africa and doing some stuff in Uganda. There's a big project in Arizona that we're taking on called Educare which is a Warren Buffett model vehicle of preschool at risk children getting an unbelievable education and therefore predisposed to succeeding rather than failing in academics.

CraveOnline: How did you get involved in that aspect of charity?

Steve Nash: Kids for me are just something. I just love kids. I think they're amazing, impressionable, dependent, energetic and beautiful. So maybe because I haven't really had someone in my family with a tragic illness or situation or really face a lot of injustice or poverty, I didn't have a natural fit. So for me, I just love kids and it just seemed really natural to me.