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In just three months, Jonathan Majors garnered widespread acclaim for its Sundance premiere “Magazine Dreams” and pulled off a rare box office feat, but her career’s rise shows no signs of peaking any time soon. Just days after “Creed III” posted a $58 million opening weekend, a record for the “Rocky” franchise and sports movies in general, and earned Majors the accolade of playing in the Consecutive Top Earners – ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ won the weekends leading up to ‘Creed’s’ March 3 release – news broke that the in-demand actor was signing on to not one, but two high level: “Da Understudy”, a story of obsession and jealousy behind the scenes of Broadway it’s ogle Spike Lee to direct, and “48 Hours in Vegas,” a dramatization of Denis Rodmanin Sin City during the Bulls’ 1998 season.
This infamous, stranger-than-fiction piece of Chicago sports history should be familiar to anyone who’s listened to ESPN’s “The Last Dance.” Check out an excerpt from Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Rodman recalling the events below.
Since the rowdy story ends with Rodman’s most famous teammate dragging him out of bed, we can assume that Jordan is more prominently featured in this film than in “Air” (April 5), which traces the development of Nike’s trademark deal with the GOAT but seemingly relegates it to the periphery of the story.
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To raise the dramatic stakes of the story, Rodman’s ride through the desert with Carmen Electra will be moved from January to June 1998, when the 90s dynasty was fighting to complete his second 3-peat and win one more championship. Rodman dropped out of the team between Games 3 and 4 of the series (the Bulls led the Utah Jazz 2-1), but to struggle with hulk hogan in Michigan, not to party in Las Vegas.
This spontaneous trip caused something of a PR nightmare for the coach Phil Jackson and the Bulls front office. Speaking to reporters at the time, Jackson sounded cool and suggested that reporting on the conflicts had been fabricated by the media. “He’s just taking your attention away from the finals, not ours,” he said. But Jackson was not shy about expressing his discomfort behind closed doors.
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The quirky power forward’s WCW appearance earned him $250,000. Even deducting the $20,000 Rodman had to pay in league fines, that certainly makes it one of the highest-grossing rule violation cases in NBA history. Rodman would go on to grab a series-high 14 rebounds in Game 4 and, after two more contests with the Jazz, would earn his fifth and final championship ring.
The creative license taken leaves us with a few questions: Will the trip to Vegas cause Rodman to miss any matches, like he did in real life? If so, how many of the 1998 Finals will be rewritten (considering Rodman returned from his trip to Michigan in time for Game 4)? Since separate incidents are condensed into a single event, will we see Rodman rebound with Hulk Hogan? What role, if any, will #23 play? Will Rodman’s relationship with Jackson, what the latter called their “Native American bond,” be related? Finally, which of the dye works of the iconoclast Majors will he wear? There are platinum blonde and cheetah print variations, but you can’t go wrong with the neon leopard green.
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From his imposing physique to his punctuated vocal style, Majors will have no trouble blending into the role. Speaking to The Associated Press, the actor said: “I’ve never really set myself a ceiling, but this is definitely a role where I push that ceiling. Because he demands it. It’s such a complete individual, so he’s going to demand a lot and I have to figure out how to get him.
The decision to tell the eccentric striker’s story with this setting is inspired, promising that the film will be more of a comedic thriller in the vein of “Miles Ahead” than a traditional sports biopic. It is quite normal for an article on Rodman to be as singular as he is.
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