“Sneakers, T-shirts, and CDs”: Invigorated by $7,000,000 Casting, Shaquille O’Neal Treated His Kazaam Cast Members with Extreme Kindness

Shaquille O’Neal never backed away from trying new things in life despite the hectic schedule of an NBA superstar. After witnessing a budding rap career in his early days in the NBA, Shaq got a chance to make it big in Hollywood following his move to Los Angeles in 1996. However, his 1996 movie Kazaam proved to be a huge disaster, for multiple reasons. However, Shaq had the time of his life during the filming of the fantasy movie and gave his fellow crew members a range of goodies during his stint. According to Jeff Pearlman’s Three-Ring Circus, Shaq’s flexible schedule and kind-heartedness meant that he was having the time of his life on set.

Shaq had always wanted to become a movie star and was being paid a whopping $7,000,000 for starring in Kazaam. That, alongside a flexible schedule accommodating his NBA commitments, meant that O’Neal had a lot of breathing space while filming for his Hollywood debut. The Lakers legend eventually became a regular feature in the industry and has since been involved in a plethora of movie cameos.

Shaquille O’Neal had the time of his life on the sets of Kazaam

According to Pearlman, there was a range of reasons why the movie Kazaam was always doomed to fail. However, Shaq paid no regard to the technicalities.

Looking forward to a $7 million paycheck, the big man had more than enough time during the off-season to have some fun. This also led to him giving his fellow cast and crew members a range of gifts, including T-shirts, CDs, and KFC treats:

“Through the bumps and bruises, screaming and shouting, the film’s star had the time of his life…On set, [Shaquille] O’Neal was a bundle of joy. He gifted the cast and crew with sneakers, T-shirts, and CDs and would often wrap shoots by heading to Capra’s house for Kentucky Fried Chicken and marathon Tekken battles on the PlayStation 1.”

O’Neal was described as a “bundle of joy” in the book, who even invited his crewmembers to Tekken games on PS1. Overall, while the movie did Shaq’s acting career no favors, the four-time NBA Champion will still have plenty of reasons to look back at his time on the set fondly. Not only did he have a lot of fun, he also got a huge paycheck to compensate for his problems.

Shaq later regretted appearing in Kazaam

The paycheck aside, the failure of the movie eventually led to regret for Shaq. During a podcast appearance, Shaq once claimed that he knew he was a terrible actor.

He stated that he had acted in 17 movies, but he ended up playing himself in 15 of them. Those cameos were no representation of his acting skills, O’Neal suggested.

Shaq ended up accepting the fact that he had a Hollywood regret, naming Kazaam as the reason behind it. Apart from the failure of the film, the sheer hilarity of the role O’Neal played in the movie might have contributed to this conclusion.