LeBron James has a basketball double for 'Space Jam 2'
Hollywood actors often have stunt doubles to take on physical roles in action scenes.
This makes sense.
Actors are actors. Unless they’re Jackie Chan, they’re generally not trained for the physical rigors of literally being blown away by an exploding car or thrown across a room in a fight scene.
Trained stunt doubles who know how to avoid injury take on those scenes.
LeBron to have a double on ‘Space Jam 2’ set
Then there’s LeBron James. News broke Wednesday that he’ll have a body double for his role in “Space Jam 2.”
James’ double isn’t a stunt double, though. He’ll be working as a basketball double.
Space Jam 2 has cast a basketball double for LeBron. pic.twitter.com/nNJMVfFLWZ
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) August 7, 2019
That’s right. The greatest basketball player on the planet apparently won’t be doing the actual basketball scenes in his upcoming basketball movie.
Here’s James’ basketball double
Those duties will be left to Nickelodeon actor Sheldon Bailey, seen here as LeBron James.
Why?
It’s likely a liability issue. James getting injured playing basketball on a movie set would be nothing short of disastrous for James, the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA and the movie production.
It appears to be standard practice, as Bailey has acted as James’ body double on multiple productions for several years.
“For the past eight years, I have had the opportunity to be a body double for LeBron James,” Bailey told The Hype Magazine in 2018. “This role has taken me all over the country and across the world, and it has put me in direct contact with some of the best directors and producers in the world. Even though I had a lot of fun playing Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard in the past, there is no comparison to the work I have gotten as LeBron James.”
So if you’re planning to see “Space Jam 2” for the LeBron highlights, be warned. It seems you’ll be seeing Bailey on the basketball court instead.
Watching LeBron James the actor will have to suffice.
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