Zion Williamson has wowed many of the world’s basketball pundits, and he could do the same to film critics as an actor in a Spike Lee movie.
Lee and Ray Allen sat down on “The Encore” for a live stream interview on Monday, May 18, and talked about Williamson being cast in a potential sequel to the 1998 film “He Got Game.”
Lee directed the release, Allen played Jesus Shuttlesworth — the nation’s top high school basketball prospect — and Denzel Washington portrayed his father Jake Shuttlesworth.
Washington’s character spent several years in prison after accidentally killing his wife in a dispute and had a contentious relationship with his son.
Williamson said that he wanted to play in a sequel of the film during a 2019 Q&A with Esquire. It’s something that Lee caught wind of, so he and Allen planned to meet with him but couldn’t.
“We were trying to … before corona, trying to get a meeting,” Lee explained at around the 38:17 mark. “Ray and I were going to go to a home game in New Orleans. … I’m still for it.”
Earlier in the conversation, Lee said that Washington wouldn’t be in a “He Got Game” sequel if it were to happen. But he revealed that Rosario Dawson, who played Allen’s girlfriend Lala Bonilla, would sign on.
Lee also explained that plenty more can be told about the “He Got Game” characters, but he’ll only move forward with a part 2 if it happens naturally, without being forced.
“For me … for my life, things happen when they happen and you try not to force it,” he stated. “People — I know they must say the same thing to Ray — people would like to see, you know, what happened after.”
Williamson didn’t explain why he wanted to be in a “He Got Game” sequel, but it didn’t take him long to answer when asked what film he would be in if given the chance.
“I would definitely want to be, like, in the part 2 of that movie,” he told the interviewer.
In 2018 Allen spoke about his desire to have a part 2 of the film during an interview on ESPN. He said that based on all that’s happened across the globe and within sports since 1998, there would be plenty to tackle in part two.
“There’s so much more to that movie that we got to continue with the storyline. We’d love to do a part 2, for sure, going forward,” he explained. “Because there’s so much content, so much happening in the world today, so much happening in sports that we need to talk about, and I think movies makes us better. It makes us start the conversation. It teaches, it grows us up.”
