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<\/a>\u201cWe were getting something like $2,500 or $3,000 a week to shoot it,\u201d Langston recalls. \u201cIt was unbelievable at the time, those checks\u2014but what\u2019s been more significant to me is the residuals kept kicking in for the last 25 years, and with the new one coming out, I know there\u2019s going to be a nice jump.\u201d<\/p>\n
Langston was a four-year basketball player at Long Beach State in the 1980s, where he averaged 10.4 points per game, five rebounds per game, and led the team in blocks all four years. Langston, who is 6-foot-10, has stayed active in the area and is the founder and director of the Real Run summer basketball league in Lynwood, which has allowed him to mentor local kids for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
Langston played professional basketball overseas for several years after graduating Long Beach State, but it was connections he made with commercial director Joe Pykta while playing in Southern California that unlocked his acting career. Pykta hired Langston to serve as an opposing basketball player in Nike commercials with Jordan and Charles Barkley, and he remained a friend while working with Pykta on other gigs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he became the director of ‘Space Jam,’ I knew I was in,\u201d said Langston.<\/p>\n
Filming for the movie was strange, with Langston and the other motion-capture actors donning green suits that covered every part of their body except for their eyes, making it easier for animators to replace them with cartoon characters. For weeks, Langston and the other actors guarded Jordan and blocked his shots\u2014or got dunked on.<\/p>\n As alien as the filming environment was, Langston said one of the highlights of his life was the time spent in the \u201cJordan Dome\u201d on the Warner Brothers Studio\u2019s lot. Because Jordan was filming the movie during the NBA offseason, he wanted to be able to continue to train and stay in shape. So the studio built him what\u2019s become known as the Jordan Dome, a pop-up basketball court in a large inflated facility that was air-conditioned and featured a lounge and weight room, as well as the actual court.<\/p>\n Because of the LA location, the top players in the world came through to hang out and play with Jordan\u2014and Langston\u2014in what Slam Magazine called<\/a> \u201csome of the best pickup basketball games ever played.\u201d<\/p>\n Jordan invited Langston into the club, where he spent a few hours every night after filming playing alongside Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller, Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Grant Hill and others. And the star power wasn\u2019t just on the court. As set photographer Bruce Talamon recalled for Jordan\u2019s website<\/a>, \u201cYou would have the biggest Hollywood stars who would want to come into the Dome and watch him play. … Michael was the real star.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the best basketball for me ever in my life,\u201d said Langston. \u201cNo one was filming, but it was like an NBA All-Star Game every night.\u201d<\/p>\n Langston was the only person besides Jordan who was acting in the movie as well as playing in the open runs at night, so he saw firsthand Jordan\u2019s legendary work ethic, with a call time for the movie at 6 a.m. and games that would frequently last until 10 p.m. at night.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day for two months, you\u2019ve never seen anything like that,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the big NBA guys were there almost every day. Halle Berry would come by for lunch. He was just that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n Langston said what made it even more special for him was that even though he was in Los Angeles, he was still on his Long Beach home court\u2014literally.<\/p>\n<\/a>