Like Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger before them, Kevin Hart and LeBron James are set to play two of the most unlikely siblings in movie history.
The 5’3″ standup comedian has signed on to star opposite the 6’8″ Miami Heat forward in “Ballers,” a new Universal comedy in which Hart will play a man living in the shadow (literally and figuratively) of his NBA superstar brother (James) who gets an opportunity to prove himself while attending a fantasy basketball camp in Miami. Hart will co-write the script for the comedy – originally penned by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (“Tooth Fairy”) with Peter Steinfeld – with his writing partners Joey Wells, Chris Spencer and Harry Ratchford. The studio is aiming for a start date sometime next summer when James (who has been attached to star in the project for two years) has some downtime between seasons. “Ballers” would be the star player’s feature-film debut.
The news was broken by Deadline.
Hart has a busy release slate over the next several months, with forthcoming films including the Sylvester Stallone-Robert De Niro vehicle “Grudge Match,” high school comedy “School Dance” directed by Nick Cannon, action-comedy “Ride Along” co-starring Ice Cube, “About Last Night” opposite Michael Ealy and Regina Hall and a sequel to last year’s surprise hit “Think Like a Man.”
Does “Ballers” sound like something you’d like to see? Sound off in the comments.