Netflix’s Court of Gold is an Olympic basketball docies with a compelling thesis that the world has finally caught up to the United States in the sport. Of the 20 Olympic Games in which the United States has competed, it has won gold in 17 and medaled in the other three. The most recent gold was, of course, in Paris in 2024–Court of Gold documented the journey of the United States as it fought to maintain its title and three other teams (Canada, , and Serbia) who aimed to pull off an historic upset.

Fantastic Court of Gold reviews make it Netflix’s second recent basketball docies to explore the Olympics, with the last being 2020’s The Last Dance. That docies was produced by Jake Rogal, who would eventually go on to helm Court of Gold as its showrunner. Rogal worked closely with the United States’ best basketball players, international sports stars, and even a former president to give audiences an unparalleled behind-the-scenes look at the competition.

ScreenRant spoke with Jake Rogal about his work directing Court of Gold. Rogal discussed how the lessons he learned producing The Last Dance factored into his process directing his own docies and how his personal questions about the ultimate narrative stood up against what transpired at the 2024 Olympics. Plus, Rogal talked about his experience working with notable basketball fan Barack Obama.

Jake Rogal Shares How The Last Dance Shaped His Experience Making Court Of Gold

Working With The Last Dance Director Jason Hehir Taught Him Important Lessons

Jake Rogal came into Court of Gold with the widely-beloved The Last Dance on his resume. The differences between the projects were clear—“The Last Dance was a nostalgia piece,” the director said, “and this is a follow doc, forward-looking piece”—but the experience producing that docies still helped Rogal oversee this one: “The Last Dance had a lot of different partners coming together … there are a lot of opinions and a lot of ideas, and I saw [The Last Dance director Jason Hehir] navigate that firsthand.”

The Last Dance director Jason Hehir is “one of my closest friends,” Rogal said, “and he was an executive producer on this show.” Rogal also learned about “the intensive research that he did before The Last Dance—that I was a part of, but not on [that] level.” Rogal went surprisingly deep for Court of Gold: “I was doing research on French culture and Serbian wars and things like that … I think that intensive research really helped me feel confident once it was time to shoot.”

The US Winning Olympic Men’s Basketball In 2024 Could Have Gone Against The Idea Of The Show

“Our Thesis Is [That] The World Is Caught Up And It’s Competitive”

As Olympic viewers know, the United States men’s basketball team shut down ’s gold medal hopes in the 2024 Olympics thanks to a stunning third-act streak by Steph Curry. But while filming Court of Gold, Rogal was not only unsure as to how the games would turn out, but also doubtful that a win for the US would be “the best outcome for the series.” “We would talk about it in the edit beforehand,” Rogal said, “Our thesis is that the world is caught up and it’s competitive, so the US losing would back that up.”

“If the US kills everybody on their way to gold, it’s kind of hard to make that argument,” the director continued, “so them winning… we didn’t know that was the best thing.” Luckily, “The way they ended up winning ended up being the best thing [because] it was dramatic.” But even with the series out on Netflix, the director says, “but you really didn’t know what was the best outcome. To this day, I am still not sure.”

Rogal Reflects On His “Out-Of-Body Experience” Working With Former President Obama

“My Fan Comes Out, And Then I Have To Kind Of Put It Away”

The Obamas’ company, Higher Ground Productions, helped make Court of Gold possible, but former President Obama is also seen speaking to players in the documentary. “Working with President Obama is kind of an out-of-body experience,” Rogal reflected, “It’s so overwhelming that you’re trying to stay in the moment and be professional, but you can’t help but be in awe of someone like that.” The documentarian is practiced at that, though: “I’m a fan of these guys and President Obama, so my first reaction is that my fan comes out, and then I have to kind of put it away.”

Obama did his part to help, said Rogal: “He understands that everyone around him is probably nervous, so he does a really good job of being warm and basically just saying, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m a normal guy’.” He continued: “He makes you feel cool. He has an amazing ability to do that, and he did that to everyone in our crew. It was awesome.”

Staying Out Of The Players’ Heads Was “The Most Important And Hardest Part Of The Entire Process”

Although Rogal Did Make Friends Along The Way

For many competing at the 2024 Olympics, the stakes had never been higher. It was a real concern, then, that camera crews and documentarians might distract some of them from their true purpose in Paris: “It’s the most important and hardest part of the entire process,” Rogal said about not wanting to interfere with the players’ concentration. It was a matter of trust: “The [International Olympic Committee] said, ‘We can get you the red credentials to get where you need to go, but other than that, you guys need to make the relationships for these people to trust you.’”

Rogal decided honesty was the best policy: “You have to convince them that you’re trustworthy in a short period of time. I think the way you do that is you let them into the process and say, honestly, ‘Here’s what we're trying to do. Here’s what would really help us. Here’s what we think will benefit you, [and that is] authenticity.’” Rogal said it “breaks down a wall” when “you let people know … we’re not going to create storylines that aren’t [true]. We’re purely here to shoot how this experience goes.’”

That access did lead to friendships for Rogal, who maintained that he didn’t have a favorite to win the competition: “I tried to be professional about it,” the director said, continuing, “Boris Diaw was someone on the French team I got really close with, and I was like, ‘Man, I’d be so happy for him if they won’.” At the same time, “Kevin Durant was someone I really go to like, and I was like, ‘God, it’d be awesome if Kevin hit a game-winning shot in the Olympics’.”

Rogal Shares His Experience Witnessing & Preparing For The Games’ Most Dramatic Moments

“I Thought The US Was Going To Lose To Serbia, For Sure”

When asked about his most memorable moments from the process of making Court of Gold, Rogal shared two locker room stories. The first had to do with a specific moment for the French team: “The French crew that we had was in the locker room with the French team when they were losing to in the group stage … and Nico Batum, who’s a pretty reserved guy, laid into the team at halftime. He was being honest about how they were not playing well and this was their Olympics and they needed to have more pride.”

“I don’t speak French,” Rogal, who was not in the locker room with the crew, continued, “so I don’t know what’s going on.” When the crew came out, he said, “they had this look on their [faces] that was like, ‘You don’t understand what we just shot’. It was amazing … I’m happy for Nico. I think the moment plays well in the show.”

The next moment that stuck out to Rogal was during the US game against Serbia: “I thought the US was going to lose to Serbia, for sure,” the director said. That presented a specific challenge: “We were figuring out how to cover the locker room when you have high-profile, global superstars who have come up short.” Rather than messages that are “normally about logistics,” Rogal shared, “it was much more of an emotional approach of, like, ‘, these guys just lost one of the biggest games of their lives.’”

Luckily for Rogal, or at least for the United States men’s Olympic basketball team, things ended up going differently.

Court of Gold is streaming on Netflix now.