Sometimes life really does imitate art. Or the other way around.

A highly respected NBA star's life is turned upside down after a woman accuses him of rape: That's both the story of Kobe Bryant and the plot of an independent film that completed shooting last February, months before Bryant's real-life drama began.

``I was just amazed,'' Jennifer Harper, the film's writer and director, told the Los Angeles Times recently. ``We were calling each other like, `Can you believe the timing of this?'''

The movie's title, ``Playas Ball,'' refers to the party held during NBA All-Star week, which attracts professional athletes and others.

The movie was the brainchild of Portland Trail Blazers center Dale Davis, who hopes to have it sold to a distributor before the upcoming NBA season.

Even more remarkable, Harper said, is that Bryant was the model for the lead character, played by actor Allen Payne.

``In rehearsals, Allen Payne asked, `What athlete is this based on?' I said, `Just think of Kobe Bryant,''' Harper said. ``He's loved by everybody. He has all the endorsements. That's who this character is.''

Bryant, who turns 25 later this month, was charged July 18 with felony sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman in Colorado.

In the film, Payne plays Cedric Tinsley, a 27-year-old NBA superstar who is the subject of a paternity suit by a woman who threatens to accuse him of rape if he doesn't agree to an out-of-court settlement.

Davis, who financed it for less than $1 million through his Atlanta-based company, World Ain't Right Entertainment, said he made it to show how high-profile athletes can be exploited.

``It happens to athletes in general, entertainers in general,'' he told the Times. ``Sometimes these are the things you have to go through if you have money, and the extent some people will go through to try and get it.''

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