Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most dominant players the NBA ever saw. While he had obvious basketball talent, the same may not be true about his acting skills. O’Neal’s most notable incursion into the acting scene included a black superhero film, “Steel”, which was released in 1997. Riding on the 1989’s Michael Keaton’s Batman success, the movie ended up a huge failure. With a $16 million budget, O’Neal’s movie garnered just north of $800,000, resulting in a hit of $15,129,932, according to Jeff Pearlman’s Three-Ring Circus.
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The LA Lakers might not be the best actor. However, he has still been able to carve out a successful career on TV. Shaq is one of the most hilarious, and wholesome personalities on basketball TV. He has made multiple incursions into the entertainment and music industry in the past few decades and continues to maintain a high amount of relevance.
Shaquille O’Neal starred in a Black Superhero film back in 1997
According to Pearlman’s book, Shaq’s movie took a humungous $15,129,932 hit. The movie had a whopping $16 million budget but only earned around $820k.
The director, Kenny Johnson, wanted to piggyback off Michael Keaton’s Batman’s success, which was released back in 1989. The highly-rated movie led to Johnson wanting to make a “black superhero” film.
“A black superhero… That’s what I want. A black superhero.”
What’s more, while the likes of Denzel Washington, Blair Underwood and Wesley Snipes were talked about by Pearlman, the director wanted none other than Shaq as the lead! Despite doubts about O’Neal’s acting skills, he agreed to the movie:
“After Shaq inked his Lakers deal, and over the next month the Steel cast and crew traveled across Los Angeles, creating a cinematic masterpiece that would gross (and you are not about to misread this) $870,068 on a $16 million budget. O’Neal’s co-star, Annabeth Gish (best known from her work in Mystic Pizza and Wyatt Earp), recalled a ‘gentle giant’ who made up for cinematic woodenness with charm and warmth. ‘This fell a little short of an Academy Award,’ Gish deadpanned. ‘But he tried.'”
While Shaq had a bad start to his career in entertainment, he eventually found his forte. Currently a world-famous DJ, O’Neal went on to create a hugely successful career as an analyst.
O’Neal thinks modern players are lucky he doesn’t play in current era
Recently on Instagram, O’Neal shared a video of him showing off his skills against the likes of Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas. The clip included his famous swift dream shake against Michael Jordan before the 1996 All-Star game.
O’Neal is considered one of the most dominant players in the NBA, and had the flair to back it up. He was a major presence on both ends of the court, and could have been a huge success in modern NBA as well.
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The Instagram post was accompanied by a bit of a warning. Shaq claimed that current NBA players were lucky that he wasn’t part of their generation.
