We had a chance to chat on Thursday with Marquis Daisy, who directed ESPN's latest "30 for 30″ film on Randy Moss called "Rand University." The film (spoiler alert, kind of) aired for the first time on Tuesday and chronicles Moss' career but also his beginnings in Rand, W.V. — and how a lot of great athletes don't make it beyond being high school stars in that town.

Some of this interview will be printed in Sunday's paper, but here are a few moments we particularly enjoyed, some of which didn't make the print edition:

RB: How did this particular project come together, both from a conceptual standpoint and getting Randy on board?

MD: When I first started at ESPN (in March), they approached me about doing a film about Randy Moss. Naturally, I was enamored and excited. Growing up, he was the guy. I was an athlete myself. I played football, basketball and ran track. So Randy Moss was sort of "that guy" growing up. But this whole idea started out as like a 30-minute film. I reached out to Randy Moss' camp, and they were initially interested but he's such a private person and such an introspective person that they were saying they had no clue when he would even sit down with me. … For about three or four months, I couldn't get him to sit down and the film almost went away. This film almost didn't happen.

RB: Getting him is one thing. Getting him to open up is another. What was that process like?

MD: I figured if I couldn't get to him, I had to build an alliance with the people around him. Prior to meeting him at Marshall, I decided to go to Rand and shoot some footage, meet people, shake their hands and look them in the face to make sure they knew I wasn't there to exploit them. I really just wanted to tell their story. I think word got around to (Moss). That was the first thing. The second thing is my partner (Alastair Christopher), who shot the film for me, has shot five or six of these "30 for 30s." We made a point of letting Randy's camp know some of the work we'd done. The most recent one was the film on Bernard King, which Randy had seen. I think he appreciated that. … When we started hanging out with him, we just wanted him to identify with us as people and build some trust. And he did.

RB: One of the lighter moments of the film involves Moss doing an impression of former Vikings coach Dennis Green. When he did that, did you know you were sitting on pure comic gold?

MD: Oh, absolutely. When he did it, I was laughing. Luckily it wasn't a two-camera interview where it was on me. And to be honest, there were some other moments from the film that didn't make the final cut. The Dennis Green thing was great because I cracked up and I identified with it. … But he also has a really good impression of Deion Sanders, as well, which didn't make the film.