LeBron James Taking His Talents To North Beach

via News & Politics: The Snitch.

LeBron's stunt double is wearing white in the center.

LeBron James may be famously taking his talents to South Beach, but he’s filming his soda commercial in North Beach.

Joe DiMaggio Park — named for a prickly athlete who didn’t stab his hometown in the back via a callous, nationally televised debacle — will today serve as the staging ground for a James TV spot. The basketball star, in town for tomorrow’s Miami Heat-Golden State Warriors game, won’t be on the scene, however.

A location manager told CBS-5 that, instead, they have a LeBron stand-in who stands three inches shorter than The King — that’d be 6-foot-5; still plenty tall — who will be studiously painted with fake tattoos. The fake Bron will do the stunts and the real Bron will be added in later via the magic of computers.

And while folks in Cleveland and Akron are feeling jilted, the commercial has, thus far, enriched San Francisco by more than $20,000 in fee payments. Toothpaste money for LeBron. But, still, nice to have.

They’ve been building the set in the rain and finally did the shoot today. Last night they had the set lights blasting. You could see them half a mile away.