Shanunie O’Neal Dishes Details On Her Upcoming ‘Basketball Wives’ Movie

Last week, when it was reported that Shaunie O’Neal had partnered with Tracey Edmonds to bring ‘Basketball Wives’ to the big screen, there were more than a few eye rolls from folks who couldn’t believe that the sh-t talking, bottle throwing, running across table foolery would actually be worthy of a movie.   Shaunie recently sat down with Vibe to clear up any misconceptions of the film which is currently in development stages.  According to Shaunie, the characters are completely fictional, the film will be multi-racial and it will not involve women sitting around lunching and arguing all day. The film will be a love story about a young wife and will aim to empower men and women.

 

Shaunie on what the movie will be about

It’s fictional. It’s a movie, so it has nothing… I see people on Twitter saying, “Oh god, you guys gon’ take that and turn it into a movie?” You don’t take a reality show and make it a movie. At least I wouldn’t. It’s not a quote, unquote “Basketball Wives movie.” Even though it has to do with basketball life, it’s not actually taking Basketball Wives from TV and making it a movie. And it’s not about women sitting around arguing or lunching all the time. It’s an actual story. It’s a love story. It’s an empowering story. It’s funny. It’s life. It’s similar—we’ve taken a girl who’s just going into the NBA life and experiencing things and showing the whole story. She learns from the organization. She learns from other wives. And by the end of the story, it’s empowering for women and men. It’s so nothing like the TV show at all. No comparison.

On she partnered with Tracey Edmonds
Yeah, I brought her the concept and the idea. It was important for me to have other outlets outside of Basketball Wives to represent myself and who I really am and what I really would like to put out there. Because, again, I did reality TV and I can’t control that. I can’t control how everybody acts and what everybody sees. This, I can control [laughs]. If I come and I say, “This is what I envision, this is what I feel, this is what I see,” with the help of others, we sit around and collaborate on how this vision can come alive and how we can make it entertaining and how we can make people interested. And [Tracey] understood what I was saying. She got where I was coming from. We always wanted to work together on something, be it TV, movie or whatever. We sat around and talked about this for a couple months and I was so eager to make it happen because I needed some other ways to almost redeem myself. Like, this is not what I’m about people, [laughs] so let me show you. And it’s not my only way of showing but it’s a huge start. And it’s one that I know I’m gonna be 110 percent proud of.

On whether the main characters will be black
We haven’t casted yet, but I wouldn’t call it a Black woman’s story. It’s going to be a multiracial cast. Of course, there will be Black women ’cause most of the NBA seems to be. But it is going to be multiracial.

On what stage the film is currently in
It’s really early. We literally just closed the deal Monday. Now we’re just getting all the next steps ready. Our writer is finishing the script and then we’ll be ready to do some auditions. This is a first for me and Tracy has been absolutely wonderful in taking me under her wing and making me her partner for this. She’s been awesome on this step by step. ’Cause I’m like, ‘Okay what happens next? And how do we do this?’ She’s done this a few times; she’s a veteran, so she knows what she’s doing. I’m enjoying putting in my in the whole process.

Shaunie O’Neal Enlists Tracey Edmonds To Produce ‘Basketball Wives’ Movie

In case you haven’t gotten enough of the hair pulling, table jumping, bottle throwing debacle that is Basketball Wives the reality show, the movie version may be coming to a theater near you. Last year, Shaunie O’Neal reached out to ‘Jumping The Broom’ producer Tracey Edmonds via twitter, after hitting the jackpot with the first few seasons of Basketball Wives and the two came together to develop a concept that they pitched to various studios. The untitled pitch was eventually picked up by Fox Searchlight films and is now in development with ‘Jumping The Broom’ writer Elizabeth Hunter on board to pen the script. According to Variety, the plot will revolve around a young woman who relocates to Miami with her boyfriend after he gets drafted to the NBA. For some reason Savannah Brinson or even Adrienne Bosh comes to mind but the film is suppose to be based on Shaunie and a few of her friends.

Tracey tells Variety:

The beauty of a feature film is that we’ll have the ability to dig much deeper into the stories and characters that come from this very colorful world and create a very juicy, action-packed narrative.

Being at the right place at the right time last year, my ears perked up when I heard this movie was in the works. It was being pitched to an actress (that most of us adore but don’t see enough of) that I could see taking on the role as the main character.

And normally I’d roll my eyes at this plot as well as the idea to bring the show to the Big screen, however, there is actually a market for this film and if the characters are developed properly as well as the storyline, it may turn out to be a good flick. Not to mention Tracey Edmonds doesn’t normally sign off on ratchet material. I can only hope it’s a more accurate depiction of actual wives versus what we see on the reality show week to week.

Meagan Good Is Engaged

Sometimes it takes people a lifetime to find the love of their life but the beautiful Meagan Good didn’t have to wait that long. According to TMZ. Meagan is engaged to a handsome man by the name of DeVon Franklin, the vice president of production for Columbia Pictures (a division of Sony). Wait, it gets better because he’s also a 7th Day Adventist preacher. Yes, Meagan snagged herself an intelligent, God-fearing preacher man. Praise him!

In the past, Meagan has made it very clear that she is a devout Christian and looking for someone that shares her religious beliefs. She once told Eureb, My minimum expectations [in a man] are that: he love the Lord, they are kind to other people, they respect me as a person, they want to be my friend-partner and not just my man.’

It looks as though she met her match. The couple started dating after production wrapped of T.D Jakes and Tracey Edmonds movie ‘Jumping the Broom,’ which Meagan starred in and Devon produced among other films like, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness,’ and ‘The Karate Kid.’ DeVon popped the big question to Meagan last month, according to her rep.

Check out a video of Meagan Good’s husband-to-be DeVon Franklin as he gives his testimony at The Potter’s House in Dallas, TX.