Rusty Shackleford

Unimaginable: This Psychopath Watched A Whole YouTube Video On The Train At Full Volume

How Did This Get Made: Kazaam (An Oral History) - Blake Harris

Francis Capra: I remember walking into his trailer and, as soon as I saw him, the it felt like the trailer shrunk by like 50%.  He was such a massive figure. I’d never met anybody that big before. But it wasn’t just his size, it was his whole demeanor. He’s larger than life, man. He’s a child in an adult’s body…but it’s a massive adult’s body! It was just such an awesome time hanging with him. We talked about videogames and, specifically, I remember us talking about Mortal Kombat. The clincher of that meeting though was when he turned around and handed me a copy of Shaq-Fu, his videogame for the Sega Genesis. And I remember actually being like wow I want to go home and play this.

Roger Soffer: I think, honestly, Shaq was fine on screen.  But he was fine on screen in a movie that wasn’t quite so serious. He had a great attitude, every day. I remember once my wife, who was pregnant at the time, she visited set and Shaq drew a basketball on her stomach. He’s a very, very nice guy. And he has no star ego about him.

Francis Capra: Shaquille, I just want to tell you, Shaquille was the consummate professional. I’ve seen people in his position—people at the height of their careers in something outside film and when they come to set they order people around and don’t know what they’re doing on set. But Shaquille never pulled that shit, man. The only problem we ever had with Shaquille was that he made us laugh too much. […] At the end of the day, we were so blessed to have him. He’s the most positive aspect of that movie. I hate when people make jokes and clown him about it. I can’t stand it, it really bothers me.