Space Jam (Movie)

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    ‘Space Jam,’ My Dad and Me

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    A writer adored the basketball-Looney Tunes mash-up as a boy. Watching the movie again after his father died, he felt the movie resonate in a surprisingly deeper way.When I was 10, I thought the coolest person in the world was Michael Jordan. The second-coolest person in the world was my dad. He played in an amateur men’s soccer league; I preferred basketball, so MJ got the edge. Like a lot of kids who grew up in the ’90s, I revered the seemingly unbeatable Chicago Bulls, and I was devastated when, on Oct. 6, 1993, Jordan announced that he would be retiring from the NBA to play minor-league baseball with the Birmingham Barons. I liked baseball even less than I liked soccer.Jordan’s triumphant return to basketball in March 1995 was a moment of intense relief and exhilaration for me; and when the Bulls won their fourth championship, in the summer of 1996, my enthusiasm for Jordan reached a fever pitch. So when “Space Jam” debuted that autumn, I could not have been more excited. Michael Jordan teaming up with Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes in a feature film about a high-stakes basketball game? It was as if they had scanned my brain and made a movie of my innermost fantasies. I begged my dad to take me to see it, and the minute it was over, I begged him to take me to see it again.He was not especially impressed with “Space Jam,” but it was everything I dreamed it would be. First, it was hilarious. The Nerdlucks, a cabal of short, wormlike aliens who smack one another around like the Three Stooges, had me in stitches; my friends and I impersonated their screechy, helium-pitched voices for months, to gales of approving schoolyard laughter. Jordan’s bumbling, nebbish assistant Stan — played by Wayne Knight, whom I knew as the guy who gets smeared by a dilophosaurus in “Jurassic Park,” another childhood favorite — was hysterically funny. And of course the Looney Tunes cracked me up. When the Tasmanian Devil spins around a basketball court and cleans it single-handedly in a matter of seconds, declaring it “lemony fresh” — that seemed like the funniest thing I had ever heard in my life.Jordan with the Looney Tunes in 1996 — a young basketball fan’s dream lineup.Warner Bros.What I loved most about “Space Jam” was the candid glimpse it seemed to offer of Jordan’s life off the court. I had seen him in action, and in interviews as well as in commercials. But “Space Jam” showed me a family side of Jordan. Here was the star talking to his wife. Here was Jordan watching TV with his kids. And here was a flashback of a young Jordan, shooting hoops in the backyard, talking about his hopes and aspirations with his own dad.His father, played by Thom Barry, has only a small role in “Space Jam”: He appears in the first scene of the movie, watching his son drop bucket after bucket in the moonlight. “Do you think if I get good enough, I can go to college?” asks the young Michael, played by Brandon Hammond. “You get good enough, you can do anything you want to,” the elder Jordan replies. Mike starts rattling off his dreams: “I want to go to North Carolina … I want to play on the championship team … then I want to play in the NBA.”His dad takes the ball and says it’s time for bed. But Michael has one more dream to mention. “Once I’ve done all that,” Michael says, beaming up at his father, “I want to play baseball — just like you, Dad.”Last April, as the coronavirus was sending most of the world into lockdown, my dad died suddenly in his home late one night of a heart attack. He was 58. He’d been in immaculate health. We were extremely close, and spoke or texted every day. I was shattered.Around the same time, ESPN began to air “The Last Dance,” the network’s 10-part documentary series about Jordan and the ’90s Chicago Bulls. I watched the show in the weeks following my dad’s death as a distraction from my grief. But I was not prepared for the revelations of the seventh episode, which deals with the death of Jordan’s father, James R. Jordan, at the hands of carjackers in 1993. I was struck by certain similarities: how close Michael had been to his father, how much he relied on him as a mentor and a friend. James Jordan died a week shy of 57.A young Jordan (Brandon Hammond) and his father (Thom Barry) came to mean a great deal years later.Warner Bros.After that episode, I put on “Space Jam.” Again, I was looking for distraction; again, I was floored by grief. That opening scene with young Michael and his father, such a beautiful testament to a parent’s influence, now seemed completely overwhelming. Three years after his death, Jordan Sr. had been resurrected onscreen for a heartfelt tribute. And what’s more, Jordan had invoked his father as the reason he was pursuing baseball — a career move most people had dismissed as ridiculous.When Jordan announced his retirement, back in 1993, he told the gathered reporters that, although he was sad to leave the sport behind, he was glad his father had been alive to see his last game of basketball. The same line appears in “Space Jam,” in a restaging of the retirement news conference, and in light of the earlier scene with Jordan’s dad, the moment has a special emphasis.At the time, pundits could not fathom why someone as gifted as Jordan would give up his place at the top of one sport just to start at the bottom in an entirely different one. Jordan used “Space Jam” in part to explain his decision, to explain that while it looked as if he was following a whim, he was actually following his father. In light of my own loss, it seemed to me that Jordan was pouring his heart out. Watching last year — nearly 25 years later — I was profoundly moved.“Space Jam” was not really as candid about Michael Jordan’s home life as I believed when I was 10 and as “The Last Dance” made clear. Understandably, “Space Jam” did not touch on Jordan’s sometimes reckless gambling, nor on his embattled relationship with the media nor his weariness with the demands of fame. But the movie does contain some sincere and deep-seated wisdom about loss, which I was only able to see once I was was in mourning myself.It’s about looking up to somebody and wanting to follow in his footsteps. To do right by him. To reflect back the love that person selflessly showed you. And although it might seem strange to say of a movie about Michael Jordan playing basketball with Bugs Bunny, seeing that truth in “Space Jam” after all these years helped me deal with the pain of what I’d lost. More

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      Malcolm D. Lee on ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ and Directing LeBron James

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      The filmmaker recalls the “organized chaos” that went into making the new film and the studio pickup games with Chris Paul and other pros.The making of “Space Jam: A New Legacy” was a head-spinning exercise in the unfamiliar for the director Malcolm D. Lee.For one thing, the film went into production less than a week after he officially signed on to direct the film. Lee was a late addition in summer 2019, taking over directing duties from Terence Nance. The script was still in development. Lee, the veteran director of comedies like “Girls Trip” (2017) and “The Best Man” (1999), had never worked with animation before and had never seen the original “Space Jam,” the 1996 basketball-Looney Tunes crossover starring Michael Jordan.On top of all that, Lee was charged with taking care of a movie built around LeBron James, one of the most popular athletes in the world. James had appeared on the big screen before (most notably in a supporting role in the 2015 romantic comedy “Trainwreck”) but had never anchored a feature.“It was organized chaos,” Lee, 51, said in an interview this week.The director met James a decade earlier when they had discussed making a film together, but it never came to fruition. The new project is a gamble for both Lee and James: It will inevitably be compared to the now-beloved original in the same way that James is continually measured against Jordan. If it flops, a movie literally billed as “A New Legacy” may be damaging to James’s own.The movie is, if nothing else, self-aware. At one point, James, playing himself, notes how poorly athletes fare when they try to act. (Similarly to the original, other pro basketball players — including Damian Lillard, Anthony Davis and Diana Taurasi — have cameos.) The film also features Don Cheadle as the villainous manifestation of an algorithm named, well, Al G. Rhythm, who kidnaps James, his youngest son (Cedric Joe) and the rest of the Warner Bros. universe.James and Bugs share the screen.Warner Bros. In addition to preparing for the film, James, 36, also had to stay in shape for the N.B.A. season. Lee said that on shoot days, James would wake up at 2 a.m. and work out till 6 a.m., then show up for a full day on set.In an interview, Lee, who is the cousin of fellow filmmaker Spike Lee, discussed his own love for basketball and how he directed a star without a traditional acting background. Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.Did you grow up playing basketball?The third grade really is when I started playing organized basketball. I wasn’t as into it as my brother and my dad were encouraging me to. I started playing in this league in Brooklyn called the Youth Basketball Association. My dad coached a year. In fact, it’s funny, too, because Spike, who was living with us at the time, was the assistant coach. [Lee is 13 years older than his cousin.]No kidding.Swear to God. And Spike will tell you himself. There was one week when my dad went down to Alabama — that’s where he’s from — and Spike had to coach us. We had an undefeated season until that date, so Spike was sweating coaching us. And we actually got the victory. He didn’t want to spoil my father’s streak.What was your first conversation with LeBron like when you took the “Space Jam” gig?I think LeBron had the same agenda as everyone else in that he wanted to make the movie great. He wanted to make sure that I knew what I was doing, that my vision was clear and that he’d be taken care of. Not coddled, but that there was a leader aboard who was going to say, “This is what we’re going to do and this is how are we going to do it.” I assured him that there could be delays — I just don’t know — but I’m a professional, I’ve been in this for a long time and I will make sure that you’re taken care of.Lee signed onto the film late in the process. “It was organized chaos,” he said.Justin Lubin/Warner Bros.Did you have any reservations about working with a basketball star who doesn’t have the traditional acting training that someone like Don Cheadle has?Not really. LeBron’s been in front of the camera since he was 18 years old. Now, I mean, “Oh, those are just interviews,” but people get asked the same questions over and over again. So he’s got some rehearsed responses. He also was very funny. He wants to be good. He was good in “Trainwreck.” There’s some actors that get something and say, “OK, that’ll cut together.” And some that are just natural. I think LeBron has a lot of natural ability.Without spoiling it, there is a scene where LeBron has to convey a vulnerable emotion toward his son. Is there anything in particular either you or he did to prepare for that scene? Because that had to be out of his comfort zone.For sure. Look, the first thing that I try to get with any actor is trust, right? I have to trust them. They have to trust me because I’m going to ask them to go to some places that they aren’t necessarily comfortable going. So yes, we did talk about something before he delivered some of those lines. Then we did a couple of takes — just let him get warmed up. If I’m not getting what I’m looking for, then I’ll say, “Why don’t you think about this? And don’t worry about the line so much. Just have this in your brain and then say it.”From left, Nneka Ogwumike, Cedric Joe, Damian Lillard, Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson and Diana Taurasi on the set. Scott Garfield/Warner Bros.Film is a director-driven medium, and basketball is very much player-driven in that players can get coaches fired or disregard them entirely. Did that dynamic ever come into play in the course of filming?No. I don’t think there was ever any “I want to do it this way and I don’t care what you have to say.” I think LeBron likes to be coached. He’s a master of his craft. But at the same time, people are in your corner whose job it is to say: “Make sure you do this. Think about this. I’m seeing this on the court. You’re not seeing blah, blah, blah.” And I think he takes that information. Same thing with acting.During the filming of the original “Space Jam,” Michael Jordan hosted scrimmages with other N.B.A. players. Was there anything like that here?There was a court built for [James] on the Warner Bros. lot. I did go to one pickup game and that was thrilling for me, because I’m a huge basketball fan. Chris Paul was there, Ben Simmons, Anthony Davis, JaVale McGee, Draymond Green.You didn’t ask to play?Hell no.What an opportunity, man!Are you kidding? The opportunity to get embarrassed. A lot of those guys come into the gym, they don’t know I’m the director of the movie. They’re like, “Who’s this dude?” I can’t be like, “Hey, how you doing? I played intramurals at Georgetown.” That’s not going to impress anybody. More

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      Blake Griffin on Life as an NBA Elder: ‘I Feel Ancient’

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonA Year of Kobe and LeBronThe Warriors Are StrugglingMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsThe Reloaded LakersAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBlake Griffin: Thriving Away From the Rim and Feeling ‘Ancient’At 31, Griffin is a Detroit Pistons elder who still knows how to entertain, even if soaring dunks are no longer his specialty.Blake Griffin made his name with high-flying dunks with the Los Angeles Clippers but is reinventing himself as a versatile, modern-day big man in Detroit.Credit…Brian Sevald/NBAE, via Getty ImagesJan. 2, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETThere must be some mistake. There is no way Blake Griffin, the star forward for the Detroit Pistons, is in his 11th N.B.A. season. Wasn’t he just soaringover the hood of a Kia to win the slam dunk contest? Being schooled in “dunkology” by Jeff Goldblum? That was almost a decade ago?It’s true. Griffin has entered the 2020-21 season as the third oldest player on the Pistons, behind Derrick Rose and Wayne Ellington.“It’s just happened so fast,” Griffin, a six-time All-Star, said in a recent phone interview, adding later: “I saw on our roster, I was seeing the birth dates and it was like, some guys were born in 2001. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. I feel ancient.’”Griffin, 31, is a year removed from one of the best seasons of his career and a dozen years older than two of his rookie teammates, Killian Hayes and Isaiah Stewart. Griffin has plenty of games left, he said. But in basketball years, in a league in which the best players seem to get younger every season, he is akin to middle-aged.Entering his fourth season in Detroit, with a franchise that is embracing a youth movement, Griffin has had to transition from high-flying phenom to locker room sage, while still being expected to deliver All-N.B.A. performances. Five Pistons players were born in 1999 or later.“I’ve also just really enjoyed it, especially this group of rookies that we have now,” Griffin said. “They’re great players, but great kids. They want to learn. They come. They ask you questions.”As publicly accepting of Detroit’s path as Griffin has been, he is still a competitor and an N.B.A. star with a glaring hole in his résumé: He has never made a conference finals.“The individual awards and these things are fine, and I’m appreciative of them, but I just want to win,” Griffin said. “Not making it to a conference final, yeah, it does gnaw at me. Not to the point where I’m losing sleep over it. But that’s the main goal — I want to win.”A native of Oklahoma City, Griffin has basketball in his DNA. His father, Tommy Griffin, was a decorated high school coach in the area. His older brother by nearly three years, Taylor Griffin, had a short spell in the N.B.A. and played overseas.Taylor, now Blake’s manager, was also his teammate at the University of Oklahoma, where they would occasionally get into physical confrontations during pickup games.Blake, left, and Taylor Griffin at a practice when they were teammates at the University of Oklahoma.Credit…Steve Sisney/The Oklahoman, via Associated Press“There’s points in middle school and elementary school where it didn’t matter what we were doing — it ended in a fight,” Taylor said. “Tears, maybe some blood. It could be a race to the car. It could be a board game.”After two seasons at Oklahoma, Blake Griffin was drafted with the first overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2009. He missed his first year because of a knee injury.After his N.B.A. career officially began in 2010-11, Griffin was known mostly as an electrifying dunker. That alone was enough to turn him into a force and to help revitalize an ignored Clippers franchise. A decade later, Griffin has adapted to the modern N.B.A.: He is one of the best passing forwards in the league and has developed an accurate 3-point shot. In 2018-19, Griffin shot seven 3-pointers a game and made an above-average 36.2 percent.He went 0 for 5 from 3-point range in his first game this season, against Minnesota, but responded with eight 3-pointers in his next game, against Cleveland. He missed Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics because of concussion protocols.Elite big men known for playing in the paint historically have not developed jump shots later in their careers. To those who watched Griffin during his early years as a pro, like his former coach Vinny Del Negro, Griffin’s willingness to evolve was expected, given a strong work ethic.“I saw how much Blake was determined to become a consistent shooter and a consistent player, from that standpoint,” said Del Negro, who coached Griffin for three seasons with the Clippers. “But at the end of the day, there’s really nothing physically Blake can’t do on the basketball court.”Griffin’s evolution has come off the court, too. He, along with fellow N.B.A. stars Trae Young and Russell Westbrook, has been campaigning for clemency to be granted to Julius Jones, who was convicted in 2002 of first-degree murder and is on death row in Oklahoma. Jones, who was 19 when he was arrested, has maintained his innocence. He used to play basketball for Griffin’s father.In recent years, Griffin has also started a production company and a podcast, while delving into stand-up comedy. He has long been known for his charisma, which translated into amusing commercials and a larger-than-life personality in the locker room.“I walked in one time, and he was doing me in the locker room,” said Caron Butler, who played with Griffin for two seasons in Los Angeles, said, adding: “I walked in, and he looked at me and I was like, ‘Bro, you nailed it.’ It was an awkward moment. Crazy. But at the same time, that’s who Blake is.”Griffin takes his comedy seriously. He has performed at the Just For Laughs festival in Montreal, which is known as a sort of comedy Shangri-La, and has said that he can see comedy as a “second career” after basketball.“With comedy, I never want to go to The Store and take somebody’s time slot,” Griffin said, referring to The Comedy Store, the famed Los Angeles club. “I prefer to do something where I’m hosting a show and I get to bring people on.”He added, “I don’t want to do that thing where I show up and maybe lean on my name a little bit and try to skip the line, because it’s a process and I want to respect that.”Griffin hosted Comedy By Blake, a comedy night for his youth charity, Team Griffin Foundation, in 2017.Credit…Dustin Snipes/Red Bull Content Pool, via Associated Press ImagesGriffin’s first priority, though, he said, is basketball. He sees himself playing for at least another five years, hoping to win that elusive championship. And this brings us back to Detroit.When Griffin entered the N.B.A., star players weren’t as likely to switch teams through free agency or to demand trades as they are today. Now the environment has shifted, but Griffin, who can opt out of his contract after this season, insisted he is happy with the Pistons, despite their uncertain championship prospects. Griffin said that the organization has been “nothing but unbelievable” and “very supportive.” He demurred when asked about the possibility of free agency.“It’s not a decision that I have to make in the immediate future,” Griffin said. “And I know, I’m sorry, I’m just kind of running around that question, but it’s just true. Things can change.”Change can happen quickly for organizations too, as Griffin found out when he was unexpectedly traded to the Pistons in 2018 shortly after signing an extension with the Clippers.But for now, Detroit seems committed to making the Griffin-Pistons marriage work. Troy Weaver, who was hired in June to be Detroit’s general manager, said that at their first meeting he told Griffin that he was “what I wanted the Pistons to be all about.”Butler, a two-time All Star, had to make a transition similar to Griffin’s during his 14-year playing career. He said Griffin was “well rounded” enough to make it work.“I think that the way you can be an asset to a team and to organizations, it comes in a variety of ways,” said Butler, now an assistant coach with the Miami Heat. “Sometimes it’s just your production. And then the older you get, all the little things become big things. It’s mentorship. It’s conversations. It’s your wisdom of being battle tested and long in the teeth to help navigate those young players through that stage. A lot of people aren’t able to do it, because sometimes guys are just good at the one specific thing, whether it’s scoring or defense.”Much of Griffin’s future will rest on his production this year. He has struggled with injuries, missing most of last season because of knee soreness. He had extended time off after the coronavirus pandemic delayed this season’s start, and Griffin said he “can’t remember a training camp where my body felt better.”And this means a decade later, he thinks he can still pull off his most famous act: the Kia dunk.“Yeah, I think I can clear the hood still,” Griffin said. “But I don’t know that I’m willing to try it now.”Griffin said he is happy in Detroit, even though the team’s prospects for winning a championship are uncertain.Credit…Tim Fuller/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More