What Michael Jordan Didn’t Want You to See in ‘The Last Dance’

5/10/2020
Greg Joyce
Not quite everything was fair game in the making of “The Last Dance.”
 
While director Jason Hehir has said that no topics were off-limits in his interviews with Michael Jordan for the popular ESPN documentary, the location of those talks was.
 
Jordan refused to be interviewed in his own house, Hehir told Insider, wanting to reserve some privacy from his 28,000-square-foot mansion in The Bear’s Club golf resort in Jupiter, Fla.
 
“There are certain aspects of his life that he wants to keep private,” Hehir told Insider. “He just didn’t want people to see all that. I respected that so I never pushed back.”
 
Jordan also declined the crew the opportunity to film him on his private jet on the way to a Nike meeting, Hehir said.
 
Instead, they shot the three interviews with Jordan in three different homes nearby. The one with big windows and an ocean view in the background, which is seen most often, was a house they rented just for the interview.
 
“I looked for places that seemed like Michael might live in,” Hehir said. “I knew what his real house looked like and I knew this is a wealthy guy who has certain tastes, so we wanted something to match that.”
 
The other two houses were owned by friends of the production crew. It didn’t take much convincing for them to open their doors when they heard who would be walking through.
 
“You’d be surprised how quickly people will open their doors when you say, ‘Can Michael Jordan come over and be interviewed at your house?’ ” Hehir said.
 
“The Last Dance” is set to continue Sunday night with Episodes 7 and 8, starting at 9 p.m., on ESPN.
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