Pollard’s documentary moves back and forth between Russell’s basketball career and his activism.

As a basketball player, the documentary follows Russell as he won an unmatched 11 NBA championships in 13 years with the Boston Celtics. As an activist, he is seen sitting in the front row during Dr. King’s I Have a Dream Speech during the March on Washington, risking his life to travel to Mississippi after the murder of Medgar Evers and joining other athletes to support Muhammad Ali’s conscientious objection to the Vietnam War as part of the Cleveland Summit of 1967.

“As an African American man growing up in that period and time, which was a lot of turmoil and tension,” Pollard told Blavity in a recent interview that  Russell “knew he had a responsibility, not just as a basketball player but as an African American at a time when African Americans were fighting for integration and civil rights.”

While going back and forth between Russell’s sports career and his activism, the documentary also shows the contrast between Russell’s team and community-focused approach to life, which was in contrast to the reputation that was put on him by outsiders.

“I think the attitude of people saying he was arrogant, he was showboating, I don’t think it meant anything to Bill Russell,” Pollard concluded. “I think he was very secure in himself.”

Russell was also willing to take risks.

“There were consequences to speaking out,” Pollard explained,” and as Kenny Smith said in the film, those consequences mean that you could die.”

For Pollard, the most surprising moment in the story comes when Russell, after his 11th championship with the Celtics, decided to walk away from basketball.

“He reevaluated his life and realized he no longer wanted to be a Celtic, he no longer wanted to play in the city of Boston, and he wanted to recalibrate his relationship with his family,” said the director.

Pollard sees Russell as “a man who understood what it meant to be a member of the team and help shape that team into a dynasty” and a man who knew “there was more to life than just playing basketball.”

When asked about Russell’s unique accomplishments, Pollard agreed with that Russell was part of a unique moment. “I don’t think there will be another player who wins, who’s part of a team that wins 11 championships in 13 seasons,” he said.

He also acted in a time when he engaged in many acts of protest and defiance as an individual. “We don’t have one leader anymore,” Pollard added, pointing to more group-level activism like Black Lives Matter in current times.

When asked about his favorite moment in the documentary, Pollard chose a lighthearted moment and a more serious one.

“There’s a moment in the film where he’s with Flip Wilson and he throws the basketball and there’s a cut to all these guys grabbing the basketball,” he explained. “I thought that was a fun moment”

More seriously, “There’s a nice little montage at the beginning of [episode] two that encapsulates what we had seen in the previous film and what Bill was going to have to confront both on and off the court.”

These types of both light-hearted and serious moments are spread throughout Bill Russell: Legend.

The two-part documentary is now streaming on Netflix.