“Can Shaquille O’Neal be a basketball player, rap artist and an actor? Well, he can try. But can he succeed? That remains to be seen.
Basketball—no problem. Even with a knee injury that kept him out of the starting lineup for 28 games this season, Shaq was able to lead the Lakers to a 56-26 record, a second-place finish in the Pacific Division and an appearance in the Western Conference Semifinals. In 1993, he was honored as the NBA Rookie of the Year. More recently, he played on the gold medal-winning U.S. “Dream Team II” at the ’96 Olympics.
Then there’s music. He’s already conquered the music charts with his debut album, “Shaq Diesel,” which went platinum; “Shaq Fu: Da Return,” which went gold, and his current album, “You Can’t Stop the Reign,” which is the first to be released by his own music label, T. W. Is M. (The World Is Mine) and includes his hit single, “Straight Playin’ (I like playin’ on the west side).”
And then there’s Hollywood. Shaq made his film debut opposite Nick Nolte in “Blue Chips,” starred as the magical genie in “Kazaam,” and now is playing a superhero in “Steel.” So far his films have not been very successful in the box office.
I saw “Steel,” and I have to be honest , it’s not the greatest film. Shaq plays a military metallurgist named John Henry Irons, (a.k.a. Steel) who is forced into battle when he discovers that the secret weapons he helped create are now on the streets of L.A. The story is believable until Shaq shows up as Steel. After that everything is pretty lame. The idea of secret weapons being used on the streets of L.A. is original, but I would have preferred to see someone normal fighting the bad guys, rather than a guy in a metal suit. I liked his character as a gentle giant, rather than a superhero.
Still, the film is entertaining. The battle scenes and visual effects make the movie bearable. It was a good attempt on Shaq’s part, but acting is not his strength. What he definitely knows how to do is play basketball and sing. That’s not bad for one person.
Recently I got a chance to sit down and talk to Shaq about “Steel.” He was pretty humble for such a famous guy. In future films, he said he’d stick to action and comedy, rather than romances. “No, you have to be good to make movies like that. Guys like Samuel L. Jackson, Wesley Snipes and Denzel. Those guys are pro to the core. I remember when I was a kid I wanted to be like Dr. J and Magic Johnson. So now, me being a young actor, if I continue to do it, I want to be great like those guys, but right now I’m not that good.”
He said the overall message of the film was: “If you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want. You just do the right thing, stay out of trouble. I like to keep my messages simple.”
Why has he started doing all these new and different things? “When I first decided to play basketball, doing movies and doing rap was not part of my plan, but as I went on and I met certain people, I got the opportunity to branch off. If Quincy Jones came to you and asked you to star in a movie, would you tell him no?”
“On certain days when I was growing up, I wanted to be like Dr. J. On other days, I wanted to be a rapper like LL Cool J, so basketball and music have always stood side by side. Right now, basketball is my main focus.”
What’s next for Shaq? “I don’t know. Right now, the two best things for me are to have my mother look me in the eye and say I love you, and my little daughter say daddy. Now that’s better than any contract. I’m happy right now. I’m very happy with my life.””
