the film includes actual amateur footage of the shooting, which coogler was initially against using. he said, "i didn't want any real footage in the film. but you sometimes have to take a step back. being from the bay area, i knew that footage like the back of my hand, but more people from around the world had no idea about this story. it made sense for them to see that footage and see what happened to oscar, and i think it was a responsibility that we had to put that out there."