The Untold Truth Of Space Jam

In 1992, Michael Jordan — a seasoned pitchman who's appeared in spots for Gatorade, Hanes, and McDonald's — starred in a prominent Super Bowl ad for Nike, producer of his Air Jordan sneakers. Titled "Hare Jordan," the commercial had an animated Bugs Bunny and a live-action Jordan team up to defeat a bunch of gym rats in a pickup game, both with basketball skills and cartoon hijinks. "Originally, I just couldn't think of a bigger star to pair Michael with than Bugs Bunny, so that's how it started," ad man Jim Riswold told the Chicago Tribune. 

After the commercial proved popular, Jordan's agent, David Falk, went to Bugs' parent company, Warner Bros., and pitched expanding the idea of Jordan playing ball with toons into a full-length film. Intrigued by the potentially lucrative marketing potential and already looking for a way to revive the largely dormant Looney Tunes characters, the studio signed on.

Interestingly, Bill Murray makes a cameo appearance in Space Jam, portraying himself and declaring his basketball prowess. This references more TV commercials, which, unlike "Hare Jordan," weren't particularly popular. In 1995, Murray starred in some promotional spots for the NBA, where he played one-on-one with a tween and monologued about his love of basketball. The overarching premise was that Murray was quitting show business to play basketball, a sly but obvious crack about how, at the time, Jordan had quit basketball to give baseball a shot.