Joe Johnson is a lot of things — a captain for the Hawks, the face of a franchise, one of the game’s rising stars and as mellow a man as anyone could expect of a three-time All-Star in the midst of his athletic prime.
What he’s not is a thespian, or anything near it.
That’s why he was in his element Monday afternoon on the set of a TNT playoff commercial shoot in a ballroom at the downtown Ritz Carlton. The script required Johnson to play chess against an imaginary foe, manufacturing emotions, facial expressions and board moves for the camera while uttering not one single line of dialogue.
“No lines?” Johnson asked the director, knowing what the answer was going to be. “Aw man, this is the perfect role for me.”
Still, with hundreds of players to choose from for the TNT commercial that will air Sunday as part of the network’s playoff package, Johnson was one of the 11 players chosen, along with Wade, of course, to be featured.
“We definitely wanted the top teams. And the Hawks are one of the top teams,” said Drew Watkins, the coordinating producer for Turner Sports’ creative-services sports unit. “We definitely wanted the top players on the top teams, and Joe is the leader of his team. We wanted guys that when you see them, they represent their team without having to say a word. And Joe is that kind of guy.
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