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Back in 1998, “The Last Dance” was in the fetal stages of production as producer Andy Thompson and a young Adam Silver of NBA Entertainment took on filming the Chicago Bulls for an all-access season.
James Stern co-directed a parallel tale about the Bulls' success in “Michael Jordan to the Max,” an IMAX film that was released in May 2000, and he had pitched the idea to former commissioner David Stern, who greenlit the project.
“What happened was I approached Adam and (then NBA commissioner) David Stern about this. And they said, ‘It sounds interesting. But we have this other film going,’” Stern said in a phone interview with K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I said, ‘Well, they’re very different markets. One doesn’t preclude the other. Do them both.’ They said that’s possible and told us to shoot the last few games of the regular season in IMAX and show us a test. They said they wouldn’t guarantee at all that we’d go ahead.”
As fate would have it, “Michael Jordan to the Max” was in theaters less than two years after the Bulls' second three-peat, narrating an important aspect of Jordan's life and his connection to the game.
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James Stern noted he didn't know “The Last Dance” was given the yellow light in order for his project to see the big screen:
“Don and Steve Kempf who had put the money together agreed to roll the dice. We had a screening for the NBA and their brass. And David said, ‘It really is great on IMAX. I think we need to go in this direction now. We have time to get back to the other film,’” Stern recalled. “I figured they were different markets. And it wasn’t my call. I was the director and producer, not the financier or the NBA. It was up to the NBA to make the decision. Andy had shot that whole season 24-7. I told Andy how terrible I felt as a filmmaker.”
“The Last Dance,” however, came out at a time of much need — playing a huge service for the NBA in a time where sports are at a halt, as well as giving Jordan uninterrupted attention every Sunday night.
It was a long time coming for Thompson, who had worked day and night to get crucial moments and interviews from that season, but ultimately it panned out just fine now that he's seeing the fruits of his labor.
