For Juancho Hernangómez, acting is a side Hustle.
A lead role in the new Adam Sandler sports drama is something the 26-year-old NBA player never expected; his eye has always been on the ball. “I love basketball so much,” Hernangómez tells Tudum. “I couldn’t, I can’t live without it. Acting, it was fun. It was a great experience, but that’s not my dream.”
Dream or not, Hernangómez is a natural at playing Hustle’s Bo Cruz, a young Spanish streetball player who’s scooped up by Sandler’s NBA scout, Stanley Sugerman, and catapulted into the big leagues. He was cast off of a promising audition tape, in which he proved he was a performer who could hold his own against Sandler while still playing a convincing basketball player — because he was one. In the film, Cruz and Sugerman’s relationship has its ups and downs, but at heart the two share a simple connection: They’re both family men who care deeply about the people they love. On set, Hernangómez and Sandler also clicked. “He was so natural. He was so normal,” Hernangómez says. “That’s the thing that surprised me the most.”
As in Hustle, Sandler and Hernangómez bonded over basketball, and they even hit the court a bit themselves. “He loves basketball too much,” Hernangómez says. “He watches basketball all the time. You can see him, he gets nervous to see any basketball players, and he doesn’t get nervous [next] to any famous actor.”
It may not have been his dream, but Hernangómez says he’ll carry his time on the set of Hustle into the rest of his career. He credits acting coach Noëlle Gentile with helping him bring the character of Bo Cruz to life. “We did a great job getting into Bo Cruz, knowing what he’s been through, knowing what I’ve been through,” the NBA forward says. He’s ready to get back to the court, but he won’t forget his Hustle experience. “It was fun to [be] Bo Cruz,” Hernangómez tells us. “I think it will be forever, for the rest of my life.”
Hustle debuts Wednesday, June 8.
