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So this is what happens when you finish a 10-year NBA career and then become an artist living in Oklahoma. You start getting roles in Chris Kattan movies.
Former Oklahoma State star and inaugural Thunder player Desmond Mason is going to be in some movie called “Just Crazy Enough,” which is about two twins separated at birth and one is a mental patient and the other is a psychiatrist. How wacky!
Mason is playing a mental patient in an asylum and he only speaks in cliches, unable to hold a normal conversation with anyone. A former NBA player only speaking in cliches? Scott Brooks is like, “That’s acting? I call that, ‘talking’.”
The movie is being filmed in Oklahoma and Mason says his role is “a pretty big part,” according to the Tulsa World.
So why is Desmond Mason in this movie, if we’re OK calling it that? How did he get involved? The World explains.
Mason, who moonlighted as an artist during his 10-year NBA career, was asked to design an award for the deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma City.
The festival’s executive director, Lance McDaniel, is a filmmaker whose most eye-catching credit is working as an assistant on “Million Dollar Baby,” which won an Oscar for Best Picture in 2004.
McDaniel, who is directing “Just Crazy Enough” and is sharing writer/producer duties with Sean Lynch, called Mason and made a pitch that went something like this: “I’ve got a spot in a movie. We think you would really fit. I’m sending you the script.”
And that’s how a former hoops star (Mason helped OSU to an Elite Eight appearance in 2000) graduated from artist to performance artist.
I have to wonder, if there were looking for a player than can act, why didn’t they go with Chris Paul, amirite?
Mason is one of my favorite players ever and having him as the Token Okie for a season was a pretty nice treat in the Thunder’s first year. I guess I’m happy for him and that he’s in this movie, though I’m not necessarily sure this is going to be the beginning of a great acting career or anything. I mean, what’s the way up from here? Graduating to a Rob Schneider movie?
The director is Lance McDaniel and filming started July 1. As McDaniel says, it’s a family friendly movie and he wanted to make a movie that’s “appealing to everyone, from toddlers to grandparents, and by doing so, we believe we can increase our marketability.” Having Desmond Mason sure doesn’t hurt either, knowamsayin’. (I don’t know what I’m saying.)
Here’s the film’s website, which I think might’ve been designed in 1999. I’m sure Dan Gilbert approves of the font selection. I’m pro-Oklahoma though, so here’s to this bad boy taking home a couple Oscars next year. If “Avatar” can get nominated, why not “Just Crazy Enough”?
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