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Father, husband, senator, president and “former Chicago resident.”
Over the weekend, pop culture and sports fanatics alike were glued to their TVs when the new Michael Jordan docu-series was released.
Titled The Last Dance, ESPN’s latest series features many interview subjects discussing the Chicago Bulls basketball player’s legacy.
When Barack Obama appeared on the screen, fans couldn’t help but notice his title was “former Chicago resident.”
Sure, it’s completely true. At the same time, many viewers immediately began to question why Illinois’ former senator and United States commander-in-chief had such a small title.
So what’s the reasoning behind it? Allow director Jason Hehir to explain.
“That is a Michael thing. Barack Obama is not the kind of guy that I can find his number and text him. Michael had a connection,” Jason explained to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. “But I was pretty adamant that we don’t have people in here who don’t have an organic connection to the story.”
He continued “I think the temptation is because Michael was super famous, let’s get as many super famous people in here as possible. There were conflicting philosophies amongst all the (production) partners of what makes a good documentary and what makes a documentary sizzle. I’m a filmmaker first and I just want to tell the story of this team as if they were not super famous. Who were the human beings who make up this team and how did they become famous and how did they handle that fame?”
In other words, organic connection is what’s most important. Nevertheless, social media users couldn’t help but share their thoughts and reactions online while watching the docu-series.
See some of the most memorable below.
The next two installments of the 10-part series will air this Sunday on ESPN.