LeBron James' Other Star Turn — in the Amy Schumer Comedy 'Trainwreck'
If you’ve been watching the NBA Finals, then you’ve surely seen one of the TV spots for Trainwreck, the raunchy Amy Schumer rom-com directed by Judd Apatow and co-starring Bill Hader. These ads, though, in a smart play by Universal, are all about the league’s foremost superstar, LeBron James, whose injury-decimated Cleveland Cavaliers are currently shocking the favored Golden State Warriors with a 2-games-to-1 lead in the series.
As you could probably tell from the LeBron-heavy ads (see one above), this isn’t your run-of-the-mill athlete movie cameo. James has a major role in the film, which premiered to big laughs at the SXSW Film Festival in March. And as we reported from the fest, James might just lead the cast in scene steals.
He plays himself, albeit a fictionalized version of himself (or at least we think this is a fictionalized version). In one of the film’s many smart gender-role flips, James is the nosy, ultra-sensitive, Downton Abbey-loving best friend to Hader’s sports doctor, Aaron. He just wants what’s best for Aaron, who falls for Schumer’s man-izing magazine writer Amy.
In the clips, we get a taste of James’ alter ego, which smartly play up his connection with Cleveland, the city he’s kissed and made up with after spurning it for the Miami Heat in 2010. In one version above, James grills Amy about her and Aaron’s relationship: “What are your intentions with Aaron? Like, when you look in the clouds do you see his face? Is he your Cleveland?” In another, he insists to Aaron that the metropolises of Cleveland and Miami “are the same.”
That joke might appear to be on Cleveland. But something tells us Clevelanders won’t mind if James ends up hoisting the championship trophy in a Cavs jersey.
Trainwreck opens July 17.
