On the Set Blair Field - Long Beach, CA
August 10, 1995
Photos & text by Michael Dequina
On Thursday, August 10, 1995, I served as an extra in Space Jam, the feature film debut of one of my greatest idols, the legendary Michael Jordan. I attended the shoot that warm summer day at Long Beach's Blair Field knowing full well that my dream of actually meeting Mr. Jordan would remain just that when the day would end, and I would just spend the afternoon and early evening sitting in the stands with thousands of others as Mr. Jordan stood at bat a hundred yards away. But just seeing him there in person was enough incentive to be part of the activity, and I arrived at Blair Field at 9 AM, six hours prior to the 3 PM call.
The first few hours of the shoot were as I had anticipated. There I was, sitting in the stands as Mr. Jordan feigned striking out over and over again on the field. A few times, as he sat in a chair as the crew would set up shots, he would survey the crowd through a pair of binoculars.
Shooting wore on, with production assistants ordering everyone to move every which way, mostly trivial prizes being raffled off, and Mr. Jordan keeping his distance. At around 7PM, Mr. Jordan had not only decided to address the crowd over the loudspeaker, he soon after approached the stands to shake some hands.
On Thursday, August 10, 1995, I served as an extra in Space Jam, the feature film debut of one of my greatest idols, the legendary Michael Jordan. I attended the shoot that warm summer day at Long Beach's Blair Field knowing full well that my dream of actually meeting Mr. Jordan would remain just that when the day would end, and I would just spend the afternoon and early evening sitting in the stands with thousands of others as Mr. Jordan stood at bat a hundred yards away. But just seeing him there in person was enough incentive to be part of the activity, and I arrived at Blair Field at 9 AM, six hours prior to the 3 PM call.
The first few hours of the shoot were as I had anticipated. There I was, sitting in the stands as Mr. Jordan feigned striking out over and over again on the field. A few times, as he sat in a chair as the crew would set up shots, he would survey the crowd through a pair of binoculars.
