Kyrie Irving’s next film project takes him to OKC’s haunted hotel
In February 2016, when Kyrie Irving still played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, he removed himself from a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder after just nine minutes with “flu like symptoms.” Irving later clarified the real culprit was nausea from numerous bed bug bites he endured during the team’s stay at the notorious Skirvin Hotel, where countless guests — including NBA stars — have sworn they’ve encountered paranormal activity.
Legend has it that hotel owner W. B. Skirvin had an affair with a chamber maid named Effie during the Prohibition. She became pregnant with Skirvin’s child, so the story goes, and was locked in a room on the 10th floor of the hotel. After she delivered the baby, she later went mad and jumped out the window with her infant, killing them both.
Since then, numerous guests have reported hearing the incessant crying of a baby during their stay. Others claimed to have seen the apparition of a naked woman while they showered, and there have been reports of unmanned maid carts rolling down the hallway. NBA guard Lou Williams was so spooked by the aura of the hotel, he refused to stay there as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers when the team played the Thunder in 2015.
Irving will soon make a return visit to the Skirvin Hotel — at a theater near you.
Imagine Entertainment announced Monday that they have optioned a Players’ Tribune oral history article on the Skirvin Hotel to make a film that will star Irving, produced by Imagine Entertainment co-chairman Brian Grazer and Bobby Cohen.
“There are different ways to tell a story,” Cohen tells ESPN. “You could do a comedy version of this like ‘Ghostbusters.’ But what interested me more is what I refer to as the roller coaster horror movies, like ‘Poltergeist,’ where it’s scary but it is also rich with wit and satire. So, we won’t be doing a straight-up comedy, but it won’t be hardcore horror like ‘The Conjuring.”’
Cohen, a Long Island native and devoted Yankees fan, was so enthused with sports he nearly took a job with ESPN before choosing a career in films. His credits include “Now You See Me,” “Only You,” “Rounders,” “Cider House Rules,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and the popular “Scream” series. Cohen says this film idea was hatched in part from conversations with Marc Gilbar, the creative mind behind the Uncle Drew Pepsi commercials that led to Irving’s first major motion picture by the same name, which grossed more than $15 million in the first weekend of its release.
“‘Uncle Drew’ was a unique experience because I created and built the character through the different Pepsi videos we did after my first year in the league,” Irving tells ESPN. “The challenge with Uncle Drew was my character was the movie so I was in almost every scene.
“This is an opportunity to be part of a movie where I can challenge myself in a different way.”
Gilbar, who was hired as a senior vice president of Imagine Brand Entertainment last July, felt Irving was a perfect fit for a film that Cohen says will be a “balance of wit and real scares.”
“The other thing we hope to capture is the fulfillment and the minutiae of what it’s like to be a professional basketball player,” Cohen says. “When you saw ‘Bull Durham,’ you said, ‘That’s what it’s like to be a minor league baseball player,’ or ‘Jerry Maguire,’ when you came away saying, ‘Oh, that’s what the life of a sports agent is like.’
“I always think it’s cool if you can start a movie in one direction, then take a left turn. We’re envisioning Kyrie on a plane with his team, these big-time athletes on their way to a big game, but then all of a sudden, it’s ‘Oh my God, there’s something wrong with this hotel.”’
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Unlike ‘Uncle Drew,’ which featured NBA alums Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson and former WNBA star Lisa Leslie, Irving’s new unnamed film will not be supplemented with a lineup of famous basketball stars. Irving, who will also serve as an executive producer, could well be the only familiar NBA face in the film.
“Kyrie did a terrific job in Uncle Drew,” Cohen says. “There have been a lot of athletes who become actors. One of the really hard things about that — and you either have it or you don’t — is certain people are able to play a version of themselves without seeming like they are acting. It’s unforced. There are plenty of athletes who are unbelievably charismatic and can hold our attention, and be funny, and we love them. But just because they are funny and personable doesn’t mean they are good actors.
“When Kyrie is telling us about basketball, or what he wants to do with his life, he comes across as very believable. Even when he’s being a provocateur, like talking about the world being flat, he’s not saying it just to get attention. There’s thought behind it. When he’s on the screen, you can see his mind at work. He’s very charismatic, and you are drawn to his face, and his eyes. I can’t wait to work with him.”
Irving says the toughest part of filming “Uncle Drew” was the hours required in the make-up room to transform him into a septuagenarian ball player.
“I learned to appreciate and respect the amount of time that actors take to perfect their craft,” Irving says. “I approached it like I do everything in life. I worked hard with my acting coach to understand how to deliver my lines in a way that made my character feel authentic. If the audience believes the character, then they become relatable.”
Irving’s agent Jeff Wechsler says the bulk of the filming will be done this summer, during Irving’s off season, with a projected release date sometime in 2020. Irving is in the middle of an MVP-caliber season with the Boston Celtics in which he is averaging 23.7 points and a career-high 6.9 assists a night.