The film, about Bugs Bunny and friends enlisting Michael Jordan’s help to keep them from suffering interplanetary enslavement, would be the athlete’s first starring movie role as himself – a typically effortless feat when you’re not struggling to keep a straight face opposite green spandex-clad stand-ins for animated characters.
Seeing it as great potential to revive the Looney Tunes franchise, Warner Bros. optioned to make Space Jam a theatrical reality, with “Hare Jordan” ad director Joe Pytka at the helm and Ivan Reitman signing on as producer (which was referenced in BIll Murray’s meta cameo).
Space Jam Pitch Meeting: The Air Jordan Commercial Turned Movie