Bill Murray Says He Made Michael Jordan Personally Ask Him to Be in “Space Jam”

When it came to appearing alongside Michael Jordan in 1996’s Space Jam, Bill Murray played hard to get.

On the most recent episode of Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast, the Groundhog Day actor, 74, explained why he held out so long before agreeing to star in the film.

“About nine people said, ‘You know, Michael really wants you to be in Space Jam,’ ” Murray recalled. “And all you have to do is nod. That’s all you gotta do, because it just means, you know, I bet you Mike can find my phone number. I bet you if he sets his mind to it, he could find my phone number or he could find out where I live or even, you know, walk up on the street.”

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Murray, however, suspected the former NBA star was hesitant to personally ask him to be in the film.

“There are people like that in the world,” he explained. “They feel like they never want to be indebted to anybody for anything. They don’t want to owe anybody anything, so they’ll have their people sort of ask something.”

“So I knew exactly — day one, I knew exactly what was coming here,” Murray continued. “I heard it from everybody. I probably heard it from, like, 13 different people. And the more people, the more I enjoyed it, because I knew it was like, ‘That son of a b---- is just twisting knowing he’s gotta ask me himself.’ ”

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According to Murray, Jordan did eventually ask him to be in Space Jam. The Lost in Translation Oscar nominee played a version of himself in the film, appearing alongside Jordan and the animated Looney Tunes characters.

“I was glad I was there and I contributed to that movie,” Murray told the Kelces.

When it came to ranking Jordan among the actors he’s performed opposite over his long career, however, the SNL alumnus joked that he was “probably the best shooting guard that I’ve worked with.”

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