The most surprising sequence in A House of Dynamite, Kathryn Bigelow’s white-knuckle nuclear war (or is it?) thriller, comes in the form of a cameo from WNBA superstar Angel Reese. What, you ask, could Angel Reese possibly be doing in A House of Dynamite? Well, that’s a great question. Read on to find out everything about Reese’s acting debut.
Angel Reese Faces Off Against Idris Elba’s POTUS
Perhaps one of the most surprising cameos of all time, Reese turns up in the film’s final segment playing herself. While it arguably would’ve been more surprising to see the former LSU phenom turn up in the role of, say, the White House press secretary or the head of FEMA, it’s still a jolt to see Reese turn up to greet Idris Elba’s POTUS and shoot a few shots with him when he goes to visit the Jump Shot Girl’s Basketball Camp, a WNBA clinic which caters to young kids. But the reverie is short-lived as the Secret Service learns that the United States is under attack, swooping in to disappear POTUS and leaving Reese and the rest of the kids scratching their heads.
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Reese Called the Role ‘Really Fun’
“That was really fun,” Reese said of the role on her Unapologetically Angel podcast. “My little acting part in there was cool, and I do really want to get into acting. During my [basketball] career and also after my career. That experience was really fun.” However, she added, “Those days are long! Like, even for my little acting part, the little part I did do, was a long, long, long time. So it took a lot to do that.”
And here’s the thing—which shouldn’t be surprising if you’ve seen Reese on the court or in interviews—she’s really good in her small role. It doesn’t ask much more of the star than to play herself, but playing oneself, as George Clooney recently reminded us, is exceedingly “hard to do.” It says something about Reese’s performance that, within seconds of registering the shock of her presence, you slip right back into the narrative. (It also says something for Bigelow’s movie, a nerve-shredding knockout.) On the basis of her cameo here, we’re excited to see more of Angel Reese on the big screen.
