Shaquille O’Neal is a man of many talents. He has worked in different fields throughout his life, and one of them is acting. In fact, he played a mafia boss in Amazon Prime’s ‘Gravesend’. That role gave him many stories, including one he recently shared.
O’Neal first appeared on screen in Blue Chips. He developed a strong connection with cinema, although some of his movies didn’t perform as well as he hoped either critically or commercially.
A unique side of him showed the lasting impact he leaves on his fans
According to The Sports Rush, O’Neal wasn’t always confident about acting. He once admitted: “I said: ‘I’m not a movie star.’ (They said) $3 million. (I said) I’ll do it. I only had to play a basketball player, I thought I could get away with it,” referring to his role in Blue Chips.
However, things didn’t go as smoothly during the filming of Season 3 of ‘Gravesend’. Having a star like Shaq on set proved complicated, according to William DeMeo.
Shaquille O’neal makes his appearance, entering the set of Gravesend 3 which is shooting today in Coney Island opposite the cyclone. pic.twitter.com/v2OhVCifPQ
— Arthur De Gaeta (@arthur067289769) June 10, 2024
“I can’t control the crowd. You can’t control him… You put Shaq on the boardwalk, and the cops said: ‘We can’t handle it. I can’t handle it.’ When Shaq is on set in Brooklyn, in a place like Coney Island, there are 60–70 police officers just for him,” DeMeo explained.
Because of this, production stalled for a while. Shaq’s enormous popularity made it impossible to keep things quiet, since fans recognized him instantly and rushed to approach him everywhere he went.
“I had never seen anything like it before,” DeMeo said about the love fans show O’Neal. Still, his memories and stories of working with Shaq remain very positive.
