“Youngbloods.” “Buckets! I get buckets!” Remember something? Of course, you do! Just two of the more popular quotes from ‘Uncle Drew’ and his Pepsi Max advertisement. Kyrie Irving was just 20 when he accepted the role of a grumpy, old man, showing up to watch his young nephew playing basketball. Short of a player, his “nephew” gets his uncle to fill in the injured player’s place. That’s when the game began.

Starting slow, Irving did everything expected from a slow-moving, possibly arthritic, old man. Almost like a switch had been flipped, this senior citizen started hitting shots, draining threes, and trash-talking the younger pickup players on the court. Of course, none of them suspected anything, after the crowd got more hyped as ‘Uncle Drew’ started heating up. By the time Irving was dunking, many started wondering if there was more to the old man than what met the eye. At the time, Kai had just finished his rookie season with the Cavs. Which meant he was yet to be known to many of today’s onlookers.

Despite it all, Irving was so convincing in his ‘Uncle Drew’ persona and the perfect delivery of trash talk that it was hard to suspect foul play. That was until, of course, the old man started dunking like a madman! No one, not even the Pepsi brand, realized that they just birthed a goose that was about to lay golden eggs!

So, how did a short ad campaign for the Pepsi Max zero-calorie cola become a box-office hit grossing over $46 million?

When Kyrie Irving and ‘Uncle Drew’ moved to the big screen

Well, if we are being direct, the Twilight franchise producer Marty Bowen and a basketball aspirant-turned-screenwriter, Jay Longino, were the masterminds behind the Uncle Drew franchise. In all honesty, Bowen’s foresight and his success in convincing Longino to see what he saw led to the success of the feel-good comedy-sport film. In a chat with The Ringer, Longino recalled the exact circumstances.

“[Bowen] calls me, and he’s like, ‘Have you seen these Uncle Drew shorts online?’ and I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he was like, ‘Well, what do you think about those being a feature?’ and I said, ‘I don’t think so. To me, [it sounded like] the Saturday Night Live skit turned into a movie that doesn’t work. That was my gut reaction.”

“And he was like, ‘You’re a f**king idiot, you’re going to realize you’re an idiot, and you’re going to call me back within 24 to 36 hours and tell me you’re wrong and that you want to write this movie.’ And I was like, ‘No, I won’t.’ Sure enough, I woke up the next morning and I was like, ‘Am I turning down a job? And a job with basketball?'” 

There you go! Good thing for us that Jay Longino realized the potential of ‘Uncle Drew’ as soon as he did.

Bowen, seeing that he had all the necessary pieces, turned to get Kyrie Irving to once again become ‘Uncle Drew’. Only, this time the audience and the production cost would be much higher and bigger. John Fischer, another executive at Temple Hill Entertainment, pitched the idea to his then-agent, Jeff Wechsler. The answer was easy.

And the result was even more spectacular! Uncle Drew’s $15 million debut exceeded Lionsgate’s (distributor) expectations, finishing fourth at the box office. It was the week when Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom and Incredibles 2 was running successfully. So you can imagine the kind of pressure everyone associated with the film must have been under.

Clearly, Kyrie Irving isn’t just a basketball genius. His talents go beyond on-court skills. But the one thing that remains the same is his discipline and commitment. Something that was in full display this season. Something that got the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals along with the franchise superstar, Luka Doncic.

Kyrie Irving is truly one of a kind. Or, as Bowen said, an enigma – provocative, intellectual, a bit of a contrarian, but highly competitive. What do you think? Still an Uncle Drew fan? Let us know in the comments below!

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow in what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video.