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These Aussie brothers went from Sixers hype video to sci-fi flick ‘Kin’

Before they made a feature debut with 'Kin,' filmmaking brothers Josh and Jonathan Baker made a promotional movie for the Sixers.

The Baker Brothers on the set of 'Kin'
The Baker Brothers on the set of 'Kin'Read moreAlan Markfield

For Kin directors Jonathan and Josh Baker, natives of Australia, their promotional swing through Philadelphia was a return to one of their favorite American cities.

With their background in advertising, they'd been hired to make a video for the Sixers called "Since 1776."

"They showed us a good time. We were here for a couple of weeks and went everywhere. So we know the city pretty well," said Jonathan.

Josh was wearing a Sixers cap, partly because of his history with the team, and partly because, as an Aussie, he's a fan of Ben Simmons and has followed his journey to Philadelphia and the NBA.

I asked the fraternal twin brothers, now based in Los Angeles, whether they'd hooked up with Simmons as he made the rounds there, or whether they had any insight into speculation that the Sixers star has gone Hollywood after reports swirled this summer that he was dating Kendall Jenner.

"No, we only know him through basketball. He's with the Kardashians now, so I can't help you with that, mate."

The brothers are currently focused on Kin, which is finally getting a release (it was completed in 2016), probably due the success this year of Black Panther.

>> READ MORE: 'Black Panther': A heroic achievement

Their movie is about a Detroit teen (Myles Truitt) who comes into possession of a powerful weapon from another world. The brothers say Black Panther changed the way Hollywood looked at Kin, a special-effects/sci fi movie with an African American lead. Kin went from being regarded as a marketing challenge to a movie with brighter commercial prospects.  It's not only getting a push in the States, the Bakers said, it's opening in places like Mongolia and Cambodia.

"You're so used to hearing about how movies with a black lead can't be sold internationally. And when Black Panther made all of that money, it erased the sentence immediately, and hopefully forever," said Josh.

It also helped Kin, which follows Truitt's character as he hits the road with his brother (Jack Reynor) on the run from gangsters (led by James Franco), picking up a straggler (Zoe Kravitz) along the way.

"We made the movie before Black Panther came out, and now we live in this world where studios are trying to catch up. And we happened to have a movie that was very organically arranged around a diverse cast, centered on an African American kid who was the movie's hero," Josh said.

The Bakers weren't trying to be trendy. In fact, the template for the story goes back to Arthurian legend, to the classic fable of the sword and the stone, of a young man whose fate is tied to a powerful weapon. From there, they paid homage to the '80s sci-fi they loved growing up.

"You'll find all kinds of Easter eggs in there. The Last Starfighter, Flight of the Navigator. The character lives on Reese Street, which is a nod both to Reeses's Pieces from E.T. and the character Reese from The Terminator," Jonathan said.

The brothers have tentative plans to extend the story, but that depends on how it does in its opening weekend. In the meantime, they're waiting for the phone to ring.

"We'd love to do another film for the Sixers, with Ben and Embiid. Especially since they're so much better now," Jonathan said.