Michael Jordan’s legacy is defined not only by his six NBA championships and Finals MVP honors but by his unprecedented stardom as well, where featuring in the iconic Space Jam movie in 1996 played a huge part. While witnessing the greatest basketball player act his heart out in a never-seen-before concept was appreciated by many, the director of the movie, Joe Pytka himself, was pissed at how he couldn’t have a more fitting ending.
Interestingly, Pytka had written and even shot a more fitting and justified conclusion for His Airness; however, with the studio opting not to use it, Joe harbored immense frustration more than not fulfilling his desire.
How Pytka wanted to end things differently in the movie
The theatrical ending of Space Jam unfolded as follows – Jordan leads the Tunes Squad to victory over the Monstars, saving himself from becoming an attraction at Moron Mountain. The 6’6″ shooting guard then returns to reality and is dropped off at a Birmingham Barons game, where he receives a standing ovation before visiting the players whose talents were stolen, ultimately leading to his return to the Chicago Bulls.
However, Pytka’s version, His Airness would return to a Barons game and hit a game-winning home run. This pivotal moment would eventually take place after Mike looks up into the stands and receives a signal from his son to widen his stance, referring to an earlier scene in the movie.
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In his interview with Entertainment Weekly, the director revealed the original, more meaningful ending for MJ’s character arc.
“Michael hits a home run and trots around the bases like Robert Redford, with all these flashes popping,” Pytka said. “Instead of everything falling from the broken lights like in The Natural, I had this special effect with everyone taking pictures with those little cheap cameras you could buy for a dollar.”
Pytka further expressed his genuine disappointment and frustration that his ending wasn’t used, stating how he was pissed at the outcome. He felt the theatrical ending lacked coherence, pointing out that there was significant urgency for Mike to return to the Barons with no payoff. He bluntly stated that Jordan’ going back to Chicago to play basketball was bulls***.
Safe to say, while Space Jam remains an iconic film for every kid of the ’90s, as it was arguably the first time they saw MJ on the big screen with such fanfare, it’s intriguing to consider that the director himself was unsatisfied with how the final product turned out.