Ken Burns Just Made It Very Clear That He's Not a Fan of 'The Last Dance'
Watching The Last Dance, ESPN’s 10-part documentary series of the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls dynasty, is kind of like going on your first trip to Disney World. The whole thing is catnip to basketball die-hards. “The Shot.” MJ talking shit on Isiah Thomas. The opening notes of “Sirius.”
Apparently, not everyone is as easily impressed by B-roll of Jordan messing around off the court. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, legendary documentarian Ken Burns said he’s not a fan of The Last Dance. Mostly, because Jordan’s production company, Jump 23, is involved with the project.
"I find it the opposite direction of where we need to be going,” Burns said. “If you are there influencing the very fact of it getting made, it means that certain aspects that you don’t necessarily want in aren’t going to be in, period."
Burns, who is no stranger to the sports-doc scene, having directed Ken Burns’ Baseball, added that he would "never, never, never, never” (four nevers!) agree to those terms if he was in charge.
“And that’s not the way you do good journalism, ... and it’s certainly not the way you do good history, [which is] my business," he said.
Worth noting: Burns’ review comes after the first four episodes of the documentary, which mostly refresh you on all the essentials. The big stuff—gambling, Jordan’s father.—comes later. Regardless, the next two episodes of The Last Dance debut on ESPN Sunday night. We’ll have to check back with KB when he gets to the Space Jam episode.
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