Spike Lee says he was really taken aback by the success of Michael Jordan’s Nike commercial. The New York Knicks superfan is responsible for directing the ad, one of the most successful shoe commercials in history, and he starred in it too. But he claims to have no idea it would blow up the way it did.
“I was completely surprised when it blew up,” Lee said to Good Morning America on Monday morning. “It blew up, it changed the culture, and I’m just happy I was a part of it. And it was 100 percent accident.”
The most recent release of The Last Dance highlighted the commercial as a pivotal point in Jordan becoming a cultural phenomenon. It featured Spike’s character Mars Blackmon from his movie She’s Gotta Have It. Mars was very fond of Air Jordans in the film and the ensuing commercial helped catapult MJ to celebrity status.
Spike said Jordan had no idea who he was at the time and had never seen the movie. Yet the two got together to create the commercial, and the rest is history.
