Friday, April 14, 2006
Draft #83
Blue Chips II, A City League Powerhouse is BornThe Up and Ups over at Paramount Pictures recently contacted yours truely with the idea of creating a sequel to the 1994 major motion picture, Blue Chips. My intitial reaction was, "Wow, the first movie sucked pretty bad, why try to compound the mistake by making another one?" But they assured me, that with the right angle, the sequel could be a major hit. So I told them I'd mull the idea over for a week or so and get back to them. Paramount thanked me for taking some time to help them, and assured me that they had complete faith in my work. I reminded them of my last cinematic project, Kazaam, and we all shared a good laugh and continued on with the day ahead.
A few days later, I was in the middle of watching a basketball game on ESPN Classic when the idea hit me. The game was a matchup from 1992 pitting the Orlando Magic and rookie center Shaquille O'Neal versus the Charlotte Hornets and their rookie center Alonzo Mourning. This game made me realize how good a ballplayer Larry Johnson used to be in his eariler days in the NBA. Sure, watching Shaq and Zo trade forearms and dropstep dunks was entertaining, but seeing Larry Johnson out there made me wonder how many other unforgotten NBA stars are currently floating in a sea of anonymity? Shaq and Zo are still in the league, but what about some of the stars that dazzled NBA audiences in the early 90's that seemed to taper off as the decade dragged on? A kid born in 1994 might not have ever heard of Derrick Coleman, Shawn Kemp, Glenn Robinson, or a Anfernee Hardaway, and that's a shame because these guys were huge. In those days if I would have said the following nicknames; DC, the Reign Man, Big Dog, Penny, and Grandma Ma, you'd know exactly who I was talking about. But If I'd say these nicknames to an eleven-year-old on the streets of today, they'd look at me like I had a string of boogies hanging from my nose. Big Dog? Who's Big Dog? Get away from me old man (cue the kid running away crying).
Here's how the sequel to Blue Chips will be constructed. Instead of college basketball, we'll direct our attention to the competitive world of city league basketball. And instead of using the Kobe Bryant's, LeBron James-aziz, or any of today's superstars, we'll used washed up NBA talent, guys who are currently out of the league, but could still use their names or faces to score a free 27'' TV from Sears or a free carwash from the neigborhood Bubbles Express. According to the plot, Kemp, LJ, Derrick, Penny, and Glenn all desperately want back in the league, but their agent Harry Weinstein has been informed through NBA brass that the washed-up quintet must first help out Graven's Drywalling, a city league basketball squad based in Wisconsin who's been out of their favorite bar league for 2 years, by becoming ringers and winning Graven's Drywalling a championship.
(It may be a bit of a stretch that these NBA castaway's are actually motivated to do more than just conceive children or sit on their money piles, and maybe an even bigger stretch that they would all currently have the same agent or any agent at all, but I figured if an alien named E.T. can help a kid fly a bike then anything in the world of cinema must be possible)
With the current plot setup, many question's need to be answered.
-Will team captain Troy Graven allow Glenn Robinson to take his spot in the starting lineup at shooting guard?
-Will the ringers follow the no dunking rule that is firmly established in the city league?
-And can any of them still dunk despite their current physical condition?
-How many friendships will Troy lose when he realizes that there is a strict 9 man roster limit, and he may have to cut some of his friends?
-Will the new additions to the team be able to adapt to the cold harsh weather conditions of Wisconsin?
-Is this new roster talented enough to de-throne perennial champs, Dick's Plumbing Services?
-Will Troy Graven adapt to his new personnel and institute a new offense to compliment their abilities, or will he stick with the motion A offense that brought them their one and only league championship back in 1987?
-Will Troy make Larry Johnson shave his beard?
-Will Pat Graven be accepting of his new teammates? (the new recruits would be Graven's Drywalling first African American players, and the tension could run high)
-Will Troy's sufficating fullcourt press, utilizing 5 guys who are 6'7'' and taller on a high school sized court, force many opponents to have a scheduled spat of Gravenitis when they see the dreaded name Graven's Drywalling on the schedule?
This is definitely a story about pulling together for a single cause. Both Graven's Drywalling and the former NBA superstars have been out of the winner's circle for years now, but with each other's help, could find themselves on top once again.
This movie will be rated R for excessive language and nudity. The NBA guys teach Troy a thing or two about their extracurricular nightlife activities while Troy exposes them to some old school country cussing none of da ringers ain't never heard befow, and some of them played a year or two in the league against Larry Bird, and that dude talks some serious shit.
The action will be headed into theaters on August 22nd, 2012.
# posted by hucklebuck @ 7:57 AM 
