Dennis Rodman’s infamous 48-hour bender in Las Vegas during the 1998 NBA Finals is set to become a feature film from Lionsgate and Lord Miller.
Rodman, then a star player for the Chicago Bulls, asked his coach Phil Jackson if he could take a 48-hour vacation in Las Vegas in the middle of the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. Even though the Bulls were on the cusp of their second three-peat championship in eight years, Jackson consented, and a sports legend was born. While Rodman and his teammate Michael Jordan detailed these events in the ESPN docuseries “The Last Dance,” the movie will take its own path with the story.
“48 Hours in Vegas” will follow Rodman on his journey, as the player and his anxious assistant GM develop an unexpected friendship amid the player’s Sin City revelry.
Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Aditya Sood will produce for Lord Miller, and Ari Lubet, Will Allegra and Rodman will executive produce. Jordan VanDina (Hulu’s “The Binge”) will write the screenplay. No actors have been attached.
“Dennis refused to follow the herd,” Lord and Miller said in a statement. “That is what made him a target and it’s also what made him a star. His weekend in Las Vegas is full of fun and hijinks but it is also full of important questions about the way public figures and workers are treated, especially when their individuality is expressed so vividly.”
“There’s only one Dennis Rodman,” Nathan Kahane, president of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group, said. “In 1998, there was nobody on Earth who’d be more fun — or maybe more dangerous — to party with. And yet that’s not even half of who he is. This movie takes you on an unforgettable ride with the myth, the legend and also the man that Dennis is, behind everything you think you know. We could not be more thrilled to be working with Phil, Chris, Aditya, Ari, Will and Jordan, and above all, Dennis, whose amazing career and life will make for an off-the-wall hilarious yet completely human and emotional movie. You think you know anything about ’The Worm?’ Just you wait!”
Most recently, Lord Miller produced the animated feature “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” for Netflix, and the team won the Oscar for best animated feature for 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” In live action, Elizabeth Banks is currently directing “Cocaine Bear” for the company. They are represented by United Talent and Ziffren Brittenham.
Rodman is represented by manager Steven Simon of Prince Marketing Group and attorney Annika K. Vanghagen.
VanDina is represented by United Talent and 3Arts.
Aaron Edmonds and Jorge Alfaro Silva will oversee “48 Hours in Vegas” for Lionsgate; Bonnie Stylides closed the deals.