Dale Steyn recounts acting in Hollywood movie, meeting Adam Sandler and Shaquille O’Neil
Dale Steyn has terrorised batsmen for years. But did you know he acted in a Hollywood movie? He opens up on the once-in-a-lifetime experience - including hanging out with Adam Sandler and Shaquille O’Neil.
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Dale Steyn suspected it was a prank phone call.
Who’s speaking? Adam Sandler?
“It was the craziest thing, the craziest thing,” Steyn told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“I don’t even know how to begin. I got this phone call from him and he asked me, ‘Look, do you want to come over and be in this movie with me?’
“Firstly, I almost didn’t believe it was him calling me. Then I was like, ‘Yeah, sure’ and, in typical Adam Sandler fashion he had Drew Barrymore with him in the background.
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“She was like, ‘Yo, come! I love your body!’ She was like joking about it.
“They had this little skit thing they were doing when they phoned me that I thought was hilarious.”
Sure enough, in 2013 the South African speedster jetted to Los Angeles and spent 10 days shooting a Hollywood movie.
Steyn plays himself – a cricketer called “Dale” – in “Blended”, bowling to a child that Sandler is coaching in a three-minute cameo.
But the real fun started when the cameras were switched off.
“We stayed at this golf course and (Sandler) came and picked me up in this golf cart. We drove around and went to restaurants and then we went and picked up somebody like Shaq.”
Sorry, who?
“Shaq … Shaquille O’Neal … and we shot hoops, like basketball,” Steyn said.
“I mean, how many people do you know that go and shoot hoops with Adam Sandler and Shaquille O’Neal, NBA superstar?
“That’s the sh-t that I’ll remember.
“People will remember the terrible on-screen Hollywood performance that I had, but it’s the other things that I’m going to remember.
“I can tell you so many stories, it was the most amazing thing. A great time in my life and I’m very pleased it came about.”
Steyn (179cm) remembers only coming up to Shaq’s (216cm) shoulder.
When he rolled into Sandler’s home for dinner one night, the funny man opened the door wearing a Proteas shirt.
Sadly, Steyn’s Big Bash League cameo will almost be as short as his movie career.
Melbourne Stars’ marquee man will miss a second Big Bash game with a left side strain.
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“It’s nowhere near as bad as anyone thinks, it was just a bit of a long flight and Tommy (Simsek) the physio is more protective than anything else,” Steyn said on Friday morning.
“He’s more worried l might get off the plane and run in and do a hamstring.
“It’s a long way to get here with a little bit of jet lag and whatnot.”
Steyn arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday night and that jet lag meant he hit the pillow with a thud on Thursday night on the Gold Coast.
When he woke up there were “10,000 messages on my phone” as Virat Kohli’s Indian Premier League franchise purchased him for $410,000 (base price).
Steyn’s economy rate of 6.7 ranks No.7 in IPL history but his salary was loose change compared with Pat Cummins’ $3.17 million payday.
That sort of IPL cash isn’t foreign to Steyn. So, what should Cummins splash his on?
“That is a lot of money. For Pat, you should go buy like a car,” Steyn said.
“Anything fast – he’s a fast bowler, so anything fast. When you’re the best in the world you deserve it.
“Cristiano Ronaldo’s the best footballer in the world and he deserves the pay cheque he gets given.”
The Portuguese magician reportedly took home $158 million in 2019 and Steyn backed his compatriot Kagiso Rabada to one day join golden boy Cummins at the top of cricket’s rich list.
“These guys deserve that money, man,” Steyn said.
“There’s so many eyes on them, everyone’s watching them, everyone relies on them to do well and (Cummins) worked his ass off to get to the position he’s in.
“Give him more money, bugger it.”
Steyn said one of his greatest Test performances came at the MCG on Boxing Day 11 years ago, when he jagged 10 wickets and cracked 76 runs to lead South Africa to victory.
He remains a dominant force. Steyn warmed up for the Big Bash with Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers among his 15 scalps (eight games) in South Africa’s T20 Mzansi Super League.
The message for Big Bash batters when Steyn does find his way into Melbourne’s cast?
Watch out.
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“I made a decision to be more aggressive in the sense that I wanted to take more wickets,” Steyn said.
“Not aggressive as in like bouncing guys and being up in people’s faces and everything.
“I just wanted to have more wicket-taking options. So instead of taking the soft option and bowling a wide slower-ball or a wide yorker to prevent runs, I thought I’m going at it.
“I’m going to go at that stumps or I’m going to take the aggressive option and try to get a wicket rather than a dot ball.
“And it paid off for me, I got a lot more wickets than I’d normally get and strangely enough I went at a decent economy rate too, which is something I’ve always got in the back of my head.
“No bowler wants to go for runs but you’ve got to try and fit in the best of both worlds in only 24 balls.
“I was bowling anywhere from 110km to 148-150km. I’m messing around with it these days, that’s how T20 is.
“Half the balls are going to be slower balls — but when you let it go, they must be aware that you can still scone a guy.”