Lionsgate in partnership with Pepsi took over the Alice Tully Hall in New York City’s Lincoln Center for the premiere of the new sports comedy Uncle Drew.
The cast and crew of the film which included comedian actor Lil Rel Howery, Erica Ash, JB Smoove ,actor and NBA legend Shaquille O’ Neal, Chris Webber, former WNBA player and actress Lisa Leslie, Reggie Miller, NBA stars Nate Robinson and Aaron Gordon and Boston Celtics player Kyrie Irving who makes his movie debut in the titular role in the film walked the orange and blue carpet at the premiere. Cast member Tiffany Haddish who did not walk the carpet made an appearance at the premiere along with rapper/ actor Common.
The premise of the film follows Dax (played by Howery), who tracks down elderly seemingly retired basketball legend uncle Drew and his team of elderly all star basketball athletes (played by O’ Neal, Robinson, Miller, Webber and Leslie), to win the Rucker basketball tournament. One of the major tasks at hand was to transform the young players and former players into senior citizens which was handled by Matthew Silva and Jonah Levy. “It was amazing, especially when you had guys like Chris Webber, Kyrie, Lisa Leslie. The second they were out of makeup, I mean Chris Webber would sit there in front of the mirror and basically just become Preacher. It was amazing. I think people are gonna be blown away by the transformation as a character that Chris brought. Then you see Kyrie who is in his twenties becoming a 80 year old man. It’s unbelievable. It is really cool to see these actors these athletes transform into these totally different characters. It was like a real privilege to see them perform,” said Matthew Silva about seeing how the actors changed when the prosthetics were applied to age them.
Erica Ash who is known for her comedic characters discussed what it was like working with the basketball all stars in the film describing what she took away from them, “That as long as you bring your A game, you can do anything because these guys brought it. The same precision they play with on the court is the same precision they brought to their acting. If they didn’t know something they weren’t afraid to ask. They were humble when they came to set which is — you never know what to expect, these guy are all award winning champions, and for them to be so humble and to ask actors like me and Rel and Tiffany, you know what do you think about this choice, or what do you think I should do differently here. It was very rewarding for me to see them in that light, and I gained six new big brothers and a big sister.” Ash also briefly spoke about a memorable line that she recalled her character delivering stating, “Who are you Tiffany asks me and I say something like if you keep talking you’re gonna find out.”
Irving isn’t the only one making his acting debut in the film, in which Orlando Magic player Aaron Gordon also made his debut in the film as one of the film’s antagonists. “I mean they’re good actors man, they are, they know what they’re doing in front of the camera. They’re just really cool people man, they’ve all have been through the game they teach me a lot. Really great characters,” Gordon said about working with the NBA legends.
After a film and basketball career that spans nearly twenty five years, Shaquille O’Neal steps into the role of Big Fella in the film. “He did really good. The crazy thing is when I first saw Uncle Drew, the first time I didn’t know it was Kyrie. I really thought it was an old dude, I was like man that old dude can really play. He did a good job. He really took it seriously he was in there studying everyday, he had his lines everyday, he did everything right. Great job by Kyrie,” O’Neal said about the film’s star. As for his hopes for the film’s legacy O’Neal said, “I want this to be a sports classic movie. Like right now the number one sports classic movie is White Men Can’t Jump. I want it to be up there, years from now, months from now, I want people to say yeah that’s it.”
Following the screening at the premiere the cast headed over to The Bowery Hotel for the official after-party. Uncle Drew will be in theaters everywhere on Friday, June 29th.
