PITTSBURGH — Even though Keith Cossrow hasn't lived here for years, anyone who meets him knows he's still a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
"The thing growing up in Pittsburgh I connected to was the way the Steelers brought Pittsburgh together," the 46-year-old Mt. Lebanon native told the Post-Gazette. "There's nothing like it. The way that the Steelers brought pride and a sense of unity and that Pittsburgh was a special place stuck with me forever."
Most of the time, Cossrow keeps his Steelers fandom out of his work with NFL Films. He sees his role as documenting the history of the game he loves and "mythologizing" some of the NFL's greatest players and biggest moments.
So imagine Cossrow's excitement while directing "Terry Bradshaw: Going Deep," a documentary about the legendary Steelers quarterback premiering Tuesday at 9 p.m. on HBO. The only voice in the film is Bradshaw's as he narrates his own life story both in standard documentary-interview format and while performing his live show at the Clay Cooper Theatre in Branson, Missouri.
"If anyone could do a first-person telling of his own life, it's Terry," Cossrow said. "He's just a great, gifted storyteller.
"When you finish watching this, you're going to feel like you know Terry and understand who he is, even if you can't articulate it because he's a complex guy."
Cossrow grew up in western Pennsylvania during "that in-between generation" after Bradshaw's heyday and before the Steelers drafted Ben Roethlisberger in 2004. The first Steelers playoff game he ever attended was a 1983 contest against the San Diego Chargers at Three Rivers Stadium that turned out to be Bradshaw's final postseason appearance before an elbow injury forced him to retire.
He had done some film work with the four-time Super Bowl champion in the past, including on Bradshaw's episode of NFL Film's "A Football Life" series in 2019. In addition to feeling like there was more of Bradshaw's story to tell, Cossrow was also fascinated by Bradshaw's second life as a live performer and sports analyst for "Fox NFL Sunday." There was a documentary that could be built around that stage show, Cossrow thought, and that formed the premise of "Going Deep."
"He's an entertainer. He lives to make people smile. He really genuinely enjoys being in front of an audience or being on TV and trying to make people laugh and bring them joy. This show gave him an opportunity to do all that."
To ensure this documentary did more than just rehash old stories, Cossrow explained to Bradshaw that "we're going to go to some places that might not be comfortable." He believes Bradshaw held up his end of the bargain and provided some surprisingly sincere commentary on everything from his time with the Steelers to playing behind "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson for two years at Louisiana Tech.
"Going Deep" was shot over the course of a week as Bradshaw performed four shows in Branson. The backstage chats with Bradshaw were broken up into three sessions ranging from 90 minutes to two hours each. Three cameras were trained on Bradshaw during their sit-down interviews, with one focused on his face "because you're going for intimacy and a confessional quality," Cossrow said.
Twenty minutes into the first day of shooting, Bradshaw brought up his three divorces, a subject Cossrow wasn't sure he would be open to discussing.
"I had never seen him talk about that subject, and certainly not with that kind of depth and feeling," he said. "He really went there and gave us a glimpse into a part of his life that we don't get to see. I'm really grateful to him for doing that."
Bradshaw's candid streak continued as he opened up about his fraught relationship with former Steelers coach Chuck Noll and the city of Pittsburgh. Cossrow didn't want those lingering feelings "to overwhelm the film," but he knew they were too important to gloss over.
"The troubles he had in Pittsburgh are very real for him," Cossrow said. "I think it's really difficult for most of us to grasp the idea that this guy, who was the first pick in the NFL draft and won four Super Bowls ... walked away from Pittsburgh angry and with a lot of scars and psychological pain and trauma that's still with him to this day."
Now that "Going Deep" is ready to debut, Cossrow is just thankful that HBO let him "make this really unusual film about Terry." Rather than telling viewers what to think, the film is designed to give Bradshaw an hour-plus to tell his own story.
And as a diehard Steelers fan, making this documentary was a true labor of love for Cossrow. He would still live in the Steel City if he could do his job from here, and he recently did something very on-brand for a former yinzer when he had to replace his wedding ring.
"I got the [stainless] steel ring because I want to carry Pittsburgh everywhere I go," he said. "I think we're all like that from Pittsburgh. I try to keep my friends, family and everything I learned in Pittsburgh in my heart, and I hope that comes through in all the stories I tell."
