"No one wants to be a supporting role"
In fact, "Space Dunk" is not the first collaboration between Jordan and Mynah.
Just a few years before the filming of this film in 1995, Peteka had shot a commercial for Nike , the owner was Jordan and Bugs Bunny. At that time, Pitka was invited by Jim, the advertising director of Nike . When Riswold received the invitation for the first time in Pitka, he also refused, on the grounds that “I can’t combine the two together. ".
Warner Corporation showed great sincerity. They wanted to make every effort to promote this cooperation, and Pitka finally got the power he wanted after a long negotiation. Bugs Bunny designed a modern image and placed the main scene of the advertisement on the basketball court. This is the premise of the launch of the "Space Slam Dunk" project.
Jordan and Larry Bird appeared in the ad, which caused a huge response. People are full of interest in the cooperation between the two legendary stars and Mynah. Peteka succeeded. However, when Warner Corporation decided to shoot the film "Slam Dunk in Space," Pitka was not the first candidate for the director. He did not receive an official invitation until a few months before the film officially started filming.
This time, Pitka agreed very happily, because he felt that no one knew better than him how to combine real people and animated characters. He began to remake the script, and added his favorite plot. His favorite is the ending part: Jordan returned to the earth, returned to the baseball stadium, hit the first home run of baseball's career, Won the cheers of the audience.
Unfortunately, in the final version of the film, this ending was cut off, replaced by Jordan’s return to Chicago,Wearing the Bulls jersey again, this makes the whole film look more harmonious and smoother, and is more in line with its commercial attributes and Jordan's identity.
In addition, Pitka has many unfulfilled wishes. He wanted to get Spike Lee to help him modify the script. He thought that the subtle relationship between Lee and Jordan could add to the film a lot, but Warner did not buy it. They and Spike Lee last time. Cooperation is not pleasant.
He also encountered difficulties in inviting NBA players, because most players don’t want to be on the court. After setting up Jordan’s victory background, they will play his supporting role on the big screen, not to mention that they understand that they are being His attention is probably not as good as a "rabbit."
did everything possible to invite Barkley, Sean Bradley, Ewing, Boggs and Larry Johnson After waited for NBA players to join, who appeared as Jordan’s assistant Stan Podora became a new problem. Podora’s mission in the film is to be funny. If you remember the plot of the movie, you must wear glasses and often make troubles. Long’s fat white man is still fresh in his memory. After a series of screenings and rejections, Wayne Knight got the role.
So far, the original lineup of "Space Dunk" is basically composed.
"It's so painful to be played one-on-one by Michael."
Pitka's perfect lineup is not formed, but cooperating with Jordan is enough to make him feel satisfied. Although the best player on the basketball court has no experience in acting, Pitka is still willing to accept this special challenge.
"We only need him to play himself well. To be honest, we also thought about finding someone else to play Michael.But no one is more like him. "Pitka said jokingly, "He did a very good job. Jordan in the movie is the one we know." A lot of the content of this movie is taken from his real life, he is very professional-I mean, Michael will try his best to remember every line of his own, just like his shooting.
Jordan returned to the NBA after a brief entry into baseball, which also added a good link to the story of "Space Slam Dunk". Before shooting the movie, Jordan would often make appointments with Reggie Miller_ Span8span waits for the players to train with them, and Pitka will also be with them. Sometimes, Jordan will pull him. He will go on the field to fight with the players, but Pitka always seizes the opportunity to run to the sidelines and sit. Jordan once asked him : "Why don't you want to join my team?"
Pitka can only smile: "I think it's more interesting to be a spectator.
Pitka and Jordan established a deep friendship, and he even affected the Bulls and Jordan's second three consecutive championships. He really liked Dennis Rod, who played for the San Antonio Marathon team at the time. Man, when Jordan began to prepare for his comeback, Pitka asked him: "Why don't you pursue Dennis Rodman?" Jordan told him that he was not sure if he could compete with Rodman With players like that, Pitka told him that Rodman would not pursue shooting. On the contrary, his dedication to rebounding and viciousness on the defensive end could help Jordan. The result? Jordan invited Rodman to join him in Beverly Hills. After dinner, a few days later, " Big Worm" was traded to Chicago.
"Bill Murray is here"
Of course, Pitka did not focus on playing or playing with Jordan. To help him build the team, he spends most of his time dealing with the green screen in the studio.
In order to realize the complex animation and real-life scenes in the movie, the producer hired a group of actors,Let them wear green clothes, play against Jordan in the green screen studio, and then replace the animated characters and scenes in post-production.
Pitka said: "I am very grateful to the actors who have not shown their faces in the movie. Their performances are excellent. We have staff in charge of animation scripts in the studio, and when we improvise When creating, these actors must quickly adjust their status to match our new ideas."
In addition to these actors, Pitka also recruited some real basketball players and asked them to act as Jordan’s opponents so that Jordan was shooting the game. It will feel more in the scene. This approach has brought Jordan a lot of help, and Pitka's new job is here again-he is looking for an opponent who can compete with Jordan.
Bill Murray, you may not have heard his name, because he is not a player at all, and he has not even played any sports. Murray is a well-known comedian in the United States. If you want to understand his humorous style, go and see "Garfield". He is the voice actor of Garfield.
Although Jordan and Bugs Bunny are the biggest highlights of "Space Slam Dunk", the moment when the greatest laughter erupted in the cinema was when Murray made his debut. Because Murray doesn’t like special effects animation, he only appears in the real scene of the golf course. However, he is very interested in how to achieve the combination of reality and animation. During the filming interval, he has been pulling Picard to ask questions. At the end of the film, I made a lot of my own suggestions.
"There will never be another movie like this."
No matter from which point of view, "Space Dunk" was an unprecedented success when it was released in November 1996. It made the "Looney Tunes" characters born in 1930 become people's favorites again, occupying the top of the North American box office charts for a long time during the release period. Even in the history of Hollywood, the success of this movie is of great significance.
In Pitka’s mind, this is a classic that cannot be copied, whether the director is him or not,He would think so.
"I think that shooting the sequel to "Slam Dunk in Space" is a ridiculous thing. I am not saying that this movie is too good to be copied, but there is no doubt that its meaning is incomparable." Pitka Say.
A few years ago, Dwight Howard found Pitka and wanted to shoot a sequel to "Slam Dunk in Space" with him, but Pitka refused him. Because he believes that no one except Jordan can interpret the essence of "Space Dunk". Not even LeBron James.
"I have worked with LeBron, I have also worked with Stephen, Curry, they are all very good players, but they are not Michael Jordan," Pitka said. " We will never see a player like Jordan again. He is a symbol to the sports world. Just like Muhammad Ali, his influence goes far beyond the scope of basketball."
is learning about James After appearing in " Slam Dunk 2 ", Pitka continued his usual joke: "I don't want them to succeed, and I really don't know how they can surpass "Space Slam Dunk".
After the release of "Space Slam Dunk 2", people discovered that he may not just be joking.
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