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“Well, if you look at the Steel character, it’s me,” O’Neal explained. “It’s all me, John Henry Irons is me. You know, when we did the movie, I would have liked to have those Iron Man effects, but nah, we did the movie in the early ’90s, and technology wasn’t as it is now, but I would love to be able to do a redo of that.”
“Same effects that they use in the movies, that they use now,” O’Neal added. “I think it would be much better appreciated, but… You know, you’re a comic book guy, I can tell. When Superman died, he came back as seven different people. I got John Henry Irons, if you look at all the comics, that was me.”
When asked if he had any regrets, the director offered these thoughts to Vice, “Well did I know it could’ve been better if I had a cast that was stronger? Better in terms of the box office, the script? Absolutely. In terms of the story and what it had to say, and the heroism of the lead character along with a woman… I mean I sat in front of some of those preview screenings and I saw the reactions they gave. They love it. But when it came to the reality, when it came for them to pay for it? It was a different story.”
A few years ago, beloved comics writer Louise Simonson actually supported Shaq when asked about the job the NBA star did on the movie way back when. She told CBR that he was absolutely fine and the critical reception wasn’t on him.
“Honestly, Shaq took a lot of flak but I think he did a fine job,” Simonson said, adding, “My problems were with the script and the costume. The costume was terrible on that one. Oh god it was awful! [Laughs] Today they could do a better job. I could do a better job with the character myself.”
Would you like to see Shaq get another chance at Steel? Let us know down in the comments!
