Shaquille O’Neal is one of those former NBA players that can do absolutely everything. Of course, as many know he works as an analyst on TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA’. But aside from that, the man makes his money work for him by investing in and buying different franchises that can earn him money.
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As you can imagine, that also means that the man has to do a myriad of commercials. And perhaps because of that, he is now a pretty good actor, complete with his own swagger.
But, that wasn’t always the case. Far from it actually.
During the prime of his NBA career, Shaquille O’Neal took part in a movie inspired by a DC superhero.
And his job in was nothing less than impeccable… for all the wrong reasons.
Shaquille O’Neal’s acting in the 1997 film ‘Steel’ is worth forming a religion around
If anyone had the chance to be the lead in any kind of movie, they likely wouldn’t say no.
The common folk of the world sure as heck wouldn’t. And it appears that an NBA player won’t let the opportunity away either.
Or at least, Shaquille O’Neal didn’t. And it resulted in the greatest moment in cinema history.
1. Shaquille O’Neal as Steel in Steel pic.twitter.com/VOBCn3NDvz
— BatKnight66 (@batknight66) January 6, 2023
That performance brought tears to the eyes of many audience members. Whether those were of sadness or laughter, we can’t say.
As for the producers, however, the confusion isn’t nearly as high.
The Producers of Steel were likely weeping with the deepest of sorrow
Shaquille O’Neal may have been intensely popular back then. But clearly, even that couldn’t save the movie.
The budget of the movie was a relatively low $16 million. You’d think that may help in maximizing profits, but it actually only earned $1.7 million at the box office, giving them a loss of $14,3 million.
Why? Well, as you can probably guess, the movie was awful, with critics only giving it 2.9 stars out of a possible 10.
Shaq may have had better luck next time, but it only came after his worst moment in Hollywood.
