Preparations began in the Adriatic city of Sibenik on Thursday for the filming of the feature film "Something stronger than me - the story of Drazen Petrovic" dedicated to this world-famous Croatian basketball player who was born in Sibenik in 1964 and died in a car crash in Germany on 7 June 1993.

The film is being directed by Danilo Serbedzija.

Filming in Sibenik begins on Friday, and in addition to Drazen’s hometown, filming will also take place in Zagreb, Madrid, and the United States. The producers of the film are Ljubo Zdjelarevic and Ivor Siber from the Kinoteka production company.

Danilo Serbedzija said that they decided to make a film about the entire life of Dražzen Petrovic, and not just one part of it. “Drazen deserves it. For me, he is the world’s greatest basketball player of all time. I highly appreciate his life, his way of life and everything he has achieved,” Serbedzija told Hina, adding that you only get to make a film about Drazen once in your life.

The premiere of the film “Something stronger than me – the story of Drazen Petrovic” should take place next year, on October 22, 2024, when Drazen would have celebrated his 60th birthday. “We would be extremely happy if we could manage to have the premiere in Sibenik, on his birthday,” Serbedzija said.

The Croatian professional basketball player Petrovic earned two silver medals and one bronze in Olympic basketball, a gold and a bronze in the FIBA World Cup, a gold and a bronze in the FIBA EuroBasket, and two Euroleague titles. Petrovic, who initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s before joining the NBA in 1989, exerted huge influence on European and American basketball.

He was posthumously inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.

Australian author Todd Spehr has written the 380-page book “Drazen: The Remarkable Life and Legacy of the Mozart of Basketball”.