The true origin of 'Space Jam' is a television commercial... Seriously! It's hard to believe that such an influential movie came from something so ordinary. But thanks to a superb oral history by Cartoon Brew, we've learned just how this film came to be.
The 1996 live-action/animated film by Warner Brothers was a box office hit and opened up the door for a new way of merchandising movies. Of course, it also inspired an entire generation of cosplayers who all wanted to be Lola Bunny, entertained millions of children and their parents, and then there's the upcoming sequel with LeBron James.
But the original movie was a massive undertaking by the studio due to the digital shift in how 2D animation and visual effects were being used throughout the entire film and television industry. So, it's pretty amazing that it all started with a commercial with Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan.
The Commercial That Started It All
'Space Jam' ultimately came from a commercial called 'Hare Jordan' which starred Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. The commercial, which was for Michael's Nike line of shoes, became so popular that it spawned a number of follow-ups and, of course, a feature-length movie.
"There were different factions of animation within Warner Bros. and one of them was called Classic Animation, which was a very small unit which mostly did commercials and special projects," animation director Tony Cervone explained. "They had made the ‘Hare Jordan’ commercial—the original Bugs Bunny/Michael Jordan commercial, which was the genesis of the idea of putting these two guys together. For a very brief time, Space Jam was part of this Classic division. It was only for a week! And during that week, ten of us were snapped up into the movie and most of us rode it through all the way to the end. I was there on day one and there when we turned the lights off and walked away."
An Animator's Dream And Nightmare
The project was really being pushed by iconic film producer Ivan Reitman who together with director Joe Pykta really saw this movie through from the script to the final product. However, it was the animation department that really sold the idea to the studio. After all, making this live-action/animation technology work for a movie is a lot different than a commercial or two.
"Jerry Rees was one of the animation producers in the beginning and he wanted me to supervise animation at the time," animation director Bruce Smith explained. "We had maybe two or three different studios that were going to jump in and help us with the animation. They had an animation director already and then the week I got there he was fired. Eventually, Joe Pykta and I had gained some rapport, and he just pulled me aside one day and said, ‘You’re gonna direct this thing.’ I saw what happened to the other guys, and I’m like, ‘You know, Joe, I’m good where I am, supervising animation, I think this is my lane, I think I’m good with this.’ And he just kinda said, ‘You’re gonna do this.’"
Many animators were really attracted to the Warner Brothers project with Michael Jordan in the lead as they wanted to create something that could appeal to older audiences as well. After all, at the time Disney dominated the animated industry... and almost all of their work was extremely formulaic.
However, making 'Space Jam' turned out to be far more challenging than it appeared... And, of course, it had to do with the combination of the live-action and animation mediums...
"I specifically remember – though I can’t recall the exact date – being summoned into then-president Max Howard’s office and told that Space Jam was in trouble, deep serious trouble," supervising animator Bruce Woodside. "There was a lot of really complicated animation to be done, nobody knew precisely what it was, storyboard artists were still working out gags and such, or how much there might be, and there was no time and not enough crew to do it."
At the time, director Joe Pytka was working away with Michael Jordan and the rest of the live-action cast in production. Filming the movie went fairly well, but only because they thought the animators had everything covered. But the reality was that many of the animators on the production team were leaving, forcing others to pick up the slack.
"Bruce Smith and Tony Cervone were taking up the task of animation direction under the guidance of producer Ivan Reitman," Bruce Woodside said. "Director Joe Pytka had already delivered his piece, but most of the picture was just Jordan and guys in green-screen suits acting in a big bright void, with the camera bouncing all over the place. The release date was set in stone, so this was going to be a mad, money-infused dash to the finish line, if it was even at all possible."
It took 18 different studios around the world working simultaneously to finish the project. It was a massive undertaking. But, at the end of the day, they created a project that still lives in the hearts and minds of an entire generation who absolutely fell in love with the adventures of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Lola Bunny, the aliens from Moron Mountain, and NBA superstar Michael Jordan.