Local Documentarian Steven C. Barber Bringing “Titanium Man” Story to Screen

By MICHAEL AUSHENKER | Contributing Writer

Photos by RICH SCHMITT | Staff Photographer

n a recent Tuesday morning, there was much excitement in the air as Palisadian Steven C. Barber drove Blake Leeper around Santa Monica. They were on their way to a meeting with a production company in Beverly Hills before heading to another one back in Santa Monica while discussing ideas for a photo shoot for the cover of Leeper’s autobiography, due from Simon & Shuster in June.

Leeper had just run from Venice Beach to Santa Monica Beach, turning heads wherever he went. That’s because Leeper, nicknamed “The Titanium Man,” is no ordinary athlete. He competes in running competitions despite missing both legs.

“I have a lot more work to do,” Leeper said, including working on his muscle memory, before 2016’s Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“He was born with a congenital birth defect,” Barber explained. “[Contrary to the assumptions of some], he’s not a wounded warrior.”

A documentary maker, Barber has been chronicling the double amputee’s story for the last eight years with producers Tamara Henry and Blair Underwood. In fact, the Highlands resident credits helping a wheelchair-bound neighbor to opening up his worldview.

“When I stopped focusing in on me and helped my neighbor who was in a wheelchair, that’s when my whole life changed,” Barber said.

It fired him up to make “Unbeaten,” a 2009 documentary about the world’s longest wheelchair race from Fairbanks to Anchorage, Alaska, that featured 31 paraplegics.

After making “Unbeaten,” Barber caught wind of Leeper’s incredible saga, which included competitions in Beijing, Vancouver and London, where at the 2012 Paralympic Games Barber filmed Leeper in action as he won the silver medal in the 400-meter dash and the bronze in the 200-meter dash.

“He’s the first double amputee in the history of this country [to compete],” Barber continued. “He just happened to be in San Diego. We hit it off immediately.”

Leeper, 26, lives in Southern California by way of Knoxville, Tennessee. Barber quickly won over Leeper as the right filmmaker to capture his story.

“He knew so much about the Paralympics,” Leeper said.

Right now, Leeper plans to qualify for the 2016 Paralympic Games trials, “legs or no legs,” while Barber, in addition to Leeper’s story, has four other documentaries in development. Barber has already spent eight years and $3 million on his Leeper doc. With Blair Underwood co-producing, Barber has amassed 100 hours of footage of the unstoppable athlete.

Actor Underwood has been instrumental.

“He got us the book deal,” Barber said. With the upcoming “The Leap of Faith: the Journey to Becoming the Fastest American Bladerunner,” renowned ghostwriter Travis Thrasher worked with Leeper to tell his story.

“It’s ‘Rudy’ on steroids,” Barber said, summing up Leeper’s legend.

The filmmaker has been talking to Netflix to distribute it and is currently in the midst of raising another $300,000 to transport him and Leeper to Rio de Janeiro, where he will keep chronicling as the athlete heads toward his Sept. 4 Paralympic Games competition.

Ultimately, Barber said the goal of his film is to spread Leeper’s amazing, inspirational story—which has already gotten traction on Arsenio Hall and Queen Latifah’s respective talk shows—and grab this world-class athlete more of the acclaim that he deserves.

“He ran against [Oscar] Pistorious and he tied. Nobody even talked about it,” Barber said.

“Everyone is touched by someone with a disability,” he continued. “[Wherever he appears], he inspires 10 people. As soon as they see him, they get it.”

That includes Palisadian Barber.

“This is all passion. I’m an accidental filmmaker. I’m not as good as Steven Spielberg!” Barber said.