It took years for ESPN’s documentaryThe Last Dance to be made.
It began in 1997 when a producer for NBA Entertainment wanted to shoot a doc on what was expected to be Michael Jordan’s last season with the Chicago Bulls. However, obtaining such access was a big ask.
"I mean, then, as it is now, Michael was one of the most famous people on the planet," NBA commissioner Adam Silver—who was the head of NBA Entertainment back then—told ESPN. "And there were rumors that it was going to be Michael's last season."
NBA Entertainment producer Andy Thompson pushed those worries out of his mind when he brought the idea to his bosses, Silver and executive Gregg Winik. "I remember thinking, 'Man, this guy is going to retire,'" Thompson said. "'And we've never really fully documented a year in the life of potentially the greatest athlete in the history of the sport.'"
Silver viewed the NBAE as the league’s archivist, and he wanted to present the league in a more multidimensional way. He approached Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf about the idea, who was open to it if Jordan and Phil Jackson were.
Jackson was on board. They just had to convince Jordan and found themselves successful when they gave him full control over the content.
"Our agreement will be that neither one of us can use this footage without the other's permission," Silver told Jordan. "It will be kept—I mean literally, it was physical film—as a separate part of our Secaucus [New Jersey] library. Our producers won't have access to it. It will only be used with your permission."
However, the 500-plus hours of footage sat in a vault in Secaucus, New Jersey for two decades. Every now then, a producer would come forward, saying they were the right person for the job, and fail—until producer Mike Tollin.
Tollin had worked on dozens of highly-acclaimed docs, movies like Varsity Blues, Coach Carter, and TV shows like Smallville, One Tree Hill, and All That.
In February 2016, Tollin had noticed a new trend in long-form, multipart documentaries. He set a meeting with Curtis Polk and Estee Portnoy, two of Jordan’s business associates, and pitched the footage as a docuseries.
In June 2016, Tollin got his meeting with Jordan, who had become owner of the Charlotte Hornets—on the same day that the Cleveland Cavaliers were celebrating their 2016 championship with a parade.
"The universe has such a funny sense of humor," said Mike Tollin, the producer of The Last Dance. "Because when I woke up, I put on ESPN while I'm getting dressed, and there's LeBron [James] and the Cavaliers parading through the streets of Cleveland with the trophy that they'd just won."
LeBron James ultimately factored in to the making of the documentary, particularly because he and Jordan are often pitted against each other in the NBA GOAT conversation. Was M.J. worried as LeBron was nearing the former Bulls player's storied six titles? Perhaps Jordan was still feeling the competition.
Needless to say, Tollin's meeting was the closest anyone had gotten to sealing the deal. Jordan read through Tollin’s lookbook, which included a letter Tollin had written to M.J. and a one-sheet on the documentaries, movies and shows that the producer had done—one of which was the doc Iverson.
When Jordan asked Tollin if he had worked on Iverson and Tollin said yes, Jordan responded, "I watched that thing three times. Made me cry. Love that little guy."
The pair shook hands and Jordan said, "Let's do it."
The 10-part documentary The Last Dance, which spotlights the 1997 to 1998 Chicago Bulls, premieres on ESPN on April 19 at 9 p.m. ET and continues for the next five weeks.
