Jason Hehir recounted the outlines of “The Last Dance” on Thursday about Michael Jordan’s final season. The director of the series was thus able, with the endorsement of the NBA star, to show his humanity with an incredible candour.
A global success while waiting for the resumption of sports competitions, the series “The Last Dance” tracing the last season of Michael Jordan at the Chicago Bulls gives access to new images and confessions of the legend of basketball and the NBA.
An audience card, a gem that owes in particular to the mastery of its director Jason Hehir.
Hehir: “How to turn a god into a human being?”
Interviewed by the Spanish newspaper El Pais on Thursday, the project manager explained the reasons for such success. After several years of reflection, design and work begun in 2016, he produced his ambitious documentary with the aim of reminding us that there was a man behind the idol.
“My priority is always to humanize the star, and it’s not always easy when it comes to a global icon, a myth,” said Jason Hehir. […] Instead of seeing it as a 2D image, like a poster or a face on a t-shirt, a logo on a shoe, I had to make it a 3D character. A living being laughing, crying and displaying his emotions. That was the hardest part. How do you turn a god into a human being?”
Jordan didn’t hide anything
With nearly 500 hours of never-before-seen archival footage at his disposal, Jason Hehir has also compiled the testimonies of hundreds of speakers to evoke Michael Jordan’s 1997-98 season. The filmmaker even collected GOAT’s confessions in person, particularly open and honest on all subjects, including drugs, women or alcohol. According to director Michael Jordan “never was afraid of being seen as a horrible person” and did not resort to any censorship during the project. On the contrary, the six-time NBA champion impressed him with his ability not to evade anything.
MJ truly saved his best for last.45 points GW bucket Title No. 6 pic.twitter.com/KsAc2CQk9D
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) May 21, 2020
“I was positively surprised. I was hoping for the best, but I feared the worst about his willingness to answer my questions. “The first time we sat down to talk, I told him about cocaine at the Bulls, Cirque as the press called him, and he burst out laughing,” Jason Hehir said. He then gave me his opinion and how he had experienced it all. It made me realize that he would not run away from these kinds of questions, that he was going to be honest.”
After the first ten episodes of “The Last Dance”, a bonus number will soon be broadcast. With such success, a series about Tom Brady is also expected to be released.
