Return Might ‘Be Cool,’ but Phil’s Out for Now

If the sight of Phil Jackson coaching the Lakers seems too Hollywood even for Hollywood’s team, you’re right.

And if the slim possibility that he’d return did come true, it still wouldn’t be in time to save his scene in the soon-to-be-released movie, “Be Cool.”

That’s the thing about losing the Laker job. It doesn’t just hurt the coaching career, it squelches acting dreams. Jackson had a small speaking role in a scene that was filmed at a Laker game last year. But when the Lakers and Jackson parted ways last summer, Jackson was destined for the cutting room floor. He’ll still get to the Basketball Hall of Fame on the basis of those nine championships. Just forget about the Oscar.

“We had to take it out because it would date the picture, because Phil’s no longer around,” said F. Gary Gray, the film’s director. “It would be awkward. You don’t want to have moments like that in a movie. It would throw people off. I wouldn’t be doing my job as a filmmaker.”

This could be his chance to be a sports prognosticator, though, and make the film look ahead of its time by having Jackson on the sidelines.

“Wow! Wait a minute,” Gray said. “You mean to tell me Coach Phil Jackson may really come back?”

Stranger things have happened. And don’t count out anything when it comes to the Desperate Franchise.

“But the movie comes out March 4,” said Gray, whose directing credits include “The Italian Job,” “The Negotiator” and “Friday.” “It would still be a big gamble.

“It would be a laugh, especially for people in Los Angeles. At the same time, it would still be one of those moments in a movie. You’re thrown out of it if you have to process the reality of the moment. You’re just thrown off. It takes you a few moments to kind of recover from that. You have to reengage. It’s not necessarily the best way to watch the movie.”

The scene from this sequel to “Get Shorty” features hip mobster-turned-movie-producer-turned-record-mogul Chili Palmer (John Travolta) taking Edie Athens (Uma Thurman) to a Laker game so they can meet Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. Palmer uses his friendship with Phil Jackson to get the tickets.

Movie producer Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) is also at the game, with Anna Nicole Smith as his date. After the game, in a scene shot well after the final buzzer and with actors wearing Laker uniforms, Weir tries to impress everyone by introducing Palmer to Jackson as he walks back to the locker room, only to discover they already knew each other. When Palmer thanks Jackson for the tickets, Jackson asks if the seat location was all right.

“You have legends and icons all within the same scene,” Gray said. “All within the same shot. In the Staples Center. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

They filmed during the Lakers’ game against the Sacramento Kings last Feb. 26. The Lakers lost that night, but “in our movie they won,” Gray said.

The filmmakers had to get permission from the teams, the arena and the NBA. All moving shots of the actors -- Palmer and Athens walk through the stands and around the court to get to Tyler’s seat -- were done during timeouts.

“There were a lot of rules we had to adhere to,” Gray said. “To shoot a movie during a live game, to turn the Staples Center into a sound stage for a movie was difficult. We’re so used to having control of the sound and the people. It was a challenge, obviously.”

Gray watched it all from one of the luxury suites that was converted into a control room, where he could watch feeds from six cameras.

One successful, one-chance-only shot came up in the fourth quarter, when DeVito and Smith popped up on the scoreboard’s giant screen in the popular “Kiss Me Cam” segment and she smothered him in lipstick.

“Anna Nicole Smith almost swallowed Danny DeVito,” Gray said.

“He could barely breath. She really committed. That’s what a director likes, when a person commits to the moment. She committed to the moment. That was worth the price of admission. I definitely put it in the movie.”

On another shot, he noticed Shaquille O’Neal looming larger and larger on the monitor. Leo Napolitano, whom Gray refers to as his “special ops” cameraman, risked ejection for the whole crew by violating terms of the agreement and going onto the court during a timeout. But what a shot!

“I thought afterward, ‘This is gold,’ ” Gray said.

That one had to be scrapped too, when the Lakers traded O’Neal to the Miami Heat in July.

They kept most of the Laker scene in the movie, but because there has been so much roster turnover -- 10 of the players on this season’s team are new -- Gray had to use mostly wide shots of the on-court action. There is a close-up of Kobe Bryant shooting over Mike Bibby.

“You’ll see a shot of the entire team, including Coach Phil Jackson, but you have to be looking really hard in order to recognize them,” Gray said.

The key question is, will the shot of the characters walking around the court be wide enough to include a certain sportswriter?

They passed right by the press table, and I stayed in character, dutifully typing away on my laptop. I committed.

“We covered their whole travel, from the first floor all the way down and around,” Gray said. “There’s a chance you might be there.

“Just look. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

This could be my big break. Not everybody can make it in this town. Not even Phil Jackson. Maybe I’ll throw in a cameo for him when I get to produce, direct and star in my own movie. Although I’m sure it comes as little consolation for him now, when he’s just another unemployed actor.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/Adande.