LeBron James will play for the LA Lakers this season. Quite honestly, LeBron will probably end his career with the Lakers. What’s interesting is that LeBron has so many other interests and businesses and goals to his life – it’s not just about basketball, although he’s arguably the best basketball player since Michael Jordan. Unlike MJ, LeBron gives a sh-t about stuff other than money and sports. LeBron is unapologetically political and unapologetically Hollywood too. The Hollywood Reporter profiled “Hollywood Bron” and all of the stuff he’s going to do in the coming years. He’s had a production company for several years now, and he’ll be producing a wide variety of films and TV shows and documentaries and docu-series. He’s also going to star in a new version of Space Jam! You can read the full THR piece here. Some highlights:
He never wishes for anonymity: “Anonymous? No. That’s weird. I’m not an anonymous guy. You gotta understand, I’m an only child. I like people.”
His upcoming projects: On Sept. 13, NBC and The CW both announced scripted series with him. HBO already has several on tap, including Student Athlete, about college players going unpaid while their universities make millions, and a Muhammad Ali documentary directed by Antoine Fuqua. Meanwhile, Netflix is in production on a reboot of the British crime drama Top Boy (with Drake) and the limited series Madam C.J. Walker, starring Octavia Spencer as the real-life daughter of slaves who became the first black female millionaire.
Space Jam: THR can reveal that Ryan Coogler will produce Warner Bros.’ new Space Jam, the long-gestating follow-up to the beloved 1996 Michael Jordan-Bugs Bunny hit. James will play his first starring role in it. “[Coogler] gave this generation’s kids something I didn’t have when I was a kid,” says James, “and that’s a superhero movie with an African-American cast.”
Whether it bothers him that Trump called him dumb: James just laughs. “No, because I’m not. That’s like somebody saying I can’t play ball. That doesn’t bother me at all. What bothers me is that he has time to even do that. He has the most powerful job in the world. Like, you really got this much time that you can comment on me?”
On Serena Williams: Having a daughter, explains James, is one reason he can relate to Serena Williams’ Sept. 8 agitation during the U.S. Open women’s final. “What we all have to understand is what she is fighting for is bigger than just that match. She is fighting for equality — always having to win more, more, more, just to feel equal. Being an African-American woman playing in a predominantly white sport, she’s dealing with so much more. I have no idea what was going on in her head, but I feel that struggle.”
On Space Jam being a childhood dream: “I always wanted to be a superhero. Batman was my favorite. But I knew I could never be Bruce Wayne. You’ve got to understand, for me that was in no way possible; I never felt like I could be the president of a multibillion-dollar company.”
His goal in Hollywood: “The goal is to continue to do what we’ve been doing, and if we make a billion-dollar company at the end of it, we will pat each other on the back, hug each other, pop some great wine … but that is not the goal. It’s never been the goal. I’m going to continue to play basketball at a high level, continue to give back to my community and make great content for people to fall in love with.”
There’s a big section in the piece about LeBron being the father of daughters and how he’s trying to become even more aware of how the world treats African-American women. At first my immediate reaction was “oh no, not another ‘as the father of daughters’ comment,” but then I stopped myself. We’ve become warped by male douchebags using their wives and daughters as human shields when they’re justifiably criticized for doing something predatory or misogynistic. But LeBron isn’t doing that – he hasn’t done anything bad, and he’s not using his daughters as shields for criticism. He’s actually talking about how his empathy and understanding of women’s issues was influenced by fatherhood, and it’s beautiful.
Anyway, I love Hollywood Bron and I hope he becomes a movie star.
.@KingJames: "I always wanted to be a superhero. Batman was my favorite. But I knew I could never be Bruce Wayne. You've got to understand, for me that was in no way possible; I never felt like I could be the president of a multibillion-dollar company" https://t.co/aUjS5OB2Mq pic.twitter.com/yZWT4u5Nnd
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 20, 2018
Photos courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.
Ryan Coogler directing the new Space Jam? Take my money.
Ryan Coogler is producing the Space Jam film. I’m guessing he still has unfinished directing business with Marvel.
Oops….misread. Still cool though.
It’s so refreshing to see an athlete who is putting in so much time and work into other interests, not just in getting rich off the game and endorsements, but creating wealth in order to also give back to his community and create wealth in that community.
I didn’t know LeBron had all those tv and film projects in the pipeline! Good for him, and I’ll be watching.
+1
And he’s not bullcraping us. He doesn’t pretend, he says what he means and he seems comfortable in his own skin. I wanna be his friend.
I would watch his documentary about college athletes and the universities that make millions off them. That colleges do that is a crime which needs to be resolved by at least compensating athletes when they graduate with payment over a lifetime or a lump sum.
Look at his team! Maybe it could use a couple more women, but all in all, the diversity is there. Great interview!
I’ve really grown to love him. He truly is role model and such a great example of someone using their talent and power for the greater good.
I also had no idea how stylish he was — Vanity Fair had a little piece with photos of various ensembles — he can rock a shorts suit and slim capris like no other man I’ve seen.
Esmom, I don’t know it you have IG but his shoe collection is pretty great too. He post the ones he wear daily.
Awesome, I’ll check it out. Thanks!
His and his wife’s IG are both great follows. They just seem to have a lot of fun together. He isn’t afraid to look silly. I can’t believe how much he’s grown on me in the last few years! I’m also down with more Hollywood Bron.
That answer regarding Treason, ha, keep doing you Lebron, keep doing you.
Also, I just cannot believe this will be the first project about Madame Walker, her story is prime HW movie bait. Welp, I always knew why.
I love Lebron and agree he is a really good person, he’s a good neighbor to his community…so charitable. I’ve never been an MJ fan, he sure was awesome on the court, but off the court, what a jerk. However, it was nice to hear about his $2M donation to his hometown of Wilmington, NC. I can’t wait for Space Jam, loved the old one, probably saw that 20 times in my youth!
Are we pretending to be hyped over space jam 2
Right? When i read about this yesterday i literally asked a bunch of people if we were looking for Space Jam 2? Were people really checking for it like that? Am I in the minority? I have no interest.
I’m as proud of him…as if he were my baby cousin!!!!
Me too! I love seeing his growth and how outspoken he is about race and politics. Young black kids need someone like him with his visibility doing this. They can make the connection and know activism is good.
I remember years ago he was on the cover of a magazine portrayed as a lion, ‘attacking’ Gisele bunchen. the woman as ESPN who was fired for calling trump a white supremacist, she pointed out that black people have been compared to animals in the past and still are to dehumanize them-it’s racist. For him to go from that-agreeing to something not realizing the negative messages to speaking like this? he really has grown and matured. he didn’t have to do any of this. he could’ve just lived out his life on some yacht spending his money, bathing in his privilege. He still goes on yachts but then comes back and starts a school with his foundation and wants experiences of black and brown people to be shown in the media to impact viewers so they know they have value too and to humanize them to others, they are not props-this says so much about him.
The school he’s started is such a wonderful contribution. He’s also guaranteed its grads that he’ll provide tuition @ the local college.
That woman fired from ESPM was Jamile Hill and she will be doing the voiceover work on the documentary he is producing called, wait for it, Shut Up and Dribble.
It was the Vogue cover and it was a direct send off (even to the way Giselle was dressed) of a 1950’s King Kong Movie poster .The Photographer was Annie Leibovitz a” white feminist ” who is always doing some borderline racist stuff with her black subjects that she seems to think is edgy
Its very easy to be manipulated during a photo shoot “Do this do that etc ” without realizing what the end result will be plus he was very young at the time . I have been side eyeing Leibovitz since then and she hasnt proved me wrong
I love this man. He’s a good role model for ALL of us IMO. Even in the small areas like his response to Trump calling him dumb. That was perfect: When you know your own worth then idiots like Cheetohead can’t affect you.
I hope he becomes a huge movie star too.
I’m super annoyed at the lack of comments on this post…
I don’t have much time for posting these days..but I just wanna applaud LeBron for “I don’t care what Drumpf says, I’m just concerned he has time to say it.” This is what we should all be saying.
I’m not into basketball at all, or most sports, so I’m usually meh on athletes.
But this guy is doing good things, saying good things and overall seems like a great guy.
It’s refreshing to see a man in the public who is good
I admit my prejudice against male athletes (David Beckhan, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar), but this one didn’t say anything bad or average: he sounds intelligent, and human. He seems like that type of person who I’d get along well, despite being my opposite.
Love LeBron.
Small complaint: Not crazy about that style of beard, on any man.
im looking fwd to the madame cj walker biopic. lebron is my hero!