Dennis Rodman, star of basketball, books, pro wrestling and nowmovies, claims to be still a little stunned by the spotlight. Andwith the opening Friday of "Double Team," the new Jean-Claude VanDamme action thriller, the media glare has even intensified.
"I never ever expected that my career would turn into such amedia hype," he said in an interview last week before the movie'sgala premiere here. (Nationwide, the film was a box-officedisappointment, pulling in $5 million; see Page 31.)
"In San Antonio (where he played with the Spurs), I was doingthe same thing, but I guess the media are stronger in Chicago, andbeing linked with Michael Jordan and a championship team didn'thurt."He is, he told me, really a private person. No, really. "Ihave my own little collection of toys - people - who I hang out with,and that's it. But once the cameras and the mikes are in front ofme, I turn into this big diva."What people need to understand, he said, is "growing up inthe projects, I never had a youth. Today, I'm having the teenageyears I never had. I have the freedom to go out and have a goodtime. I decided to revert 10 years, and then grow up. I'm what?Inside, I'm 17, 18 years old right now."Our conversation - a portion of which ran in last week'sSun-Times - continued:Q. By the end of the movie, what did you know that youdidn't know on the first day?A. Well, I knew that I could act. I felt real comfortable.At first I was leery and nervous because I didn't know how to projectmyself in front of the camera, but as days went by, all of a sudden,I started feeling really comfortable, really more big, you know, tobe in there.Q. So this is something you think you can do.A. I can do action movies.Q. You see this as a career after basketball?A. I think it's a career now. I've been doing it for somany years, acting and performing and entertaining people, and now Ihave to put it in a different form without a uniform.Q. Michael Jordan waited a long time before finally pickinga movie project to star in. What kind of process did you go through?How did you choose this one?A. They just came to me with a project and "Hey, why don'tyou play this character, his name is Yaz," and they basically broughtthe character to life as Dennis Rodman.Q. I heard that Jackie Chan gave you some pointers onaction scenes.A. He did. He told me, when you kick, you kick sharp andyou kick believable, and then people believe that you actually arekicking and hitting the guy. And when you punch, you go through thepunch, you go through it and you snap it back. I didn't do all thekarate moves like Bruce Lee, that kind of crap, but he taught me theaction scenes where I have to deliver the punches.Q. You've been quoted as saying that if the Bulls win theNBA championship again, you'll be back, and if they don't, you won't.A. I'm just being realistic here. I got so many people inmy corner, but a lot of people actually wanna see Dennis Rodman fail.They say the hell with him, he's caused too many problems for thisteam. But then they say, we can't win without you, we need you, wecan't win without you. So they're walking on both sides of thefence. If we don't win, I'm pretty sure they won't have me back.Q. Would you go to someplace like Los Angeles, where yourflamboyance might be more welcome?A. I think I'll go to the Lakers, but my first choice wouldbe the Bulls. They wanna offer me less money, I'll still play here.I owe the people of Chicago a lot because they gave me opportunities,so I'm not gonna let them down.Q. You were playing for a long time before you came toChicago, but it was here that really you captured everyone'simagination.A. Right. It's amazing. I've been in (the NBA) for 11years, and all of a sudden, I'm everywhere. "Dennis Rodman - Iremember that guy when he was nobody." I never expected none of thisstuff to happen. I'm just Dennis Rodman being a real human beinglike anyone else in the world is trying to be, but I'm just doing itmore flamboyantly, that's all.Q. Your relationship with Jordan, is it kind of like arivalry with a brother or . . .A. People are saying Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan arefeuding over who can get the most spotlight, the most publicity.It's nothing like that! We respect each other because he has hislife, I have my life. So once we come together, it's on thebasketball floor. That's the most important time we need to have.We're like playing a game of checkers. You move here, I gotta movehere. Move here, I gotta move here. So that's the way it is. Offthe court, we're on our own, you know.Q. You generate a lot of publicity, but then there'spublicity that you don't necessarily want, like when your father cameto see you at a Bulls game, or the reports about your affair withMadonna or now this book by your ex-wife. How do you feel aboutthat?A. "As the Worm Turns." It seems like I should have a soapopera. People just wanna jump in the bathtub with me. It's, like,"Let me jump in, too, let me tell my story." My father - I don'tknow who this man is, who wants to come back and he's in the standssigning autographs like he's the superstar. "That's my son."Really? Where were you 30 years ago?And my ex-wife, she jumped off the boat, and all of a suddennow she wants to live vicariously through me. And the sad thingabout this is, now my child's involved. So that's the worst thingabout that. And as for Madonna, I opened my mouth when I shouldn'thave did, and it cost me a friendship. But it happened.Q. You have a book coming out this month. What's called?A. It's called Walk on the Wild Side. And it's definitelya walk on the wild side.Q. Howard Stern had a bestseller that he made into a movie.Now you've got two books that could be made into movies. But theywould be a little more R-rated or even NC-17, wouldn't they?A. I think it would be more PG-13.Q. PG-13?A. I think if people look in my books they will really geta concept of Dennis Rodman. They'll get a feel of what their livescan bring them and what they can do. With the Walk on the Wild Sidebook coming out, people are gonna say - damn, this guy, I mean, hereally lived the life. He really lived to the fullest. If you hangaround me a while, you say he wants it all, he does it all, and heenjoys it.
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