NBA

Jonathan Majors to Star as Dennis Rodman in Film About Infamous Las Vegas Trip

The "Creed III" star will portray the eccentric basketball Hall of Famer, who went on a 48-hour trip to Las Vegas during the 1997-1998 NBA season

NBC Universal, Inc.

Jonathan Majors to star as Rodman in film about infamous Vegas trip originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas ... except when you're Dennis Rodman.

Then a 48-hour stay in Sin City is turned into a movie.

The upcoming film about Rodman's impromptu trip to Las Vegas while playing for the Chicago Bulls during the 1997-1998 season is appropriately called "48 Hours in Vegas" and stars "Creed III" antagonist Jonathan Majors as the eccentric basketball Hall of Famer.

So, Majors is going from being Michael B. Jordan's co-star to portraying a former teammate of Michael Jordan.

"Hopefully, I get to sit with him and chat with him when we get closer and [are] trying to get the script right," Majors told the Associated Press of Rodman, who is listed as one of the film's executive producers. "All these things, all these industry things. I never really put a ceiling on myself, but this is definitely a role where I'm pushing that ceiling out. Because he demands that. He's such a full individual, so he's going to demand a lot and I have to figure out how to get that."

The Bulls had to do the same with Rodman during his time with the team. That was why head coach Phil Jackson permitted Rodman to take a Las Vegas getaway during Chicago's off days. 

Jordan, who was in his third and final season as teammates with Rodman at the time of the Vegas trip, discussed the incident during an episode of ESPN's "The Last Dance."

"I'm looking at Phil, 'You ain't gonna get that dude back in 48 hours. I don't care what you say. He's done,'" Jordan recalled. "He leaves that room, goes straight to the airport, boom! We don't hear or see Dennis for 48 hours."

The next time Rodman was seen was when Jordan showed up at his doorstep after his return to Chicago.

"There's a knock on the door, and it's Michael Jordan," Rodman's girlfriend Carmen Electra said in an episode of "The Last Dance." "And I hid. I didn't want him to see me like that. So, I'm just, like, hiding behind the couch with covers over me, [then Jordan says], 'Come on! We got to get to practice.'"

The Bulls went on to win their third consecutive championship later that season.

Rodman was a second-round pick by the Detroit Pistons in the 1986 NBA Draft who went on to lead the league in rebounding for seven straight seasons between 1991 and 1998. The two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year won five titles during his Hall of Fame career and was named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team.

Rodman, with his trademark multi-colored hair complementing a variety of piercings and tattoos, also generated plenty of publicity off the court. He dated Madonna, he was briefly married to Electra, he wore a wedding dress while promoting his autobiography, he teamed up with Hulk Hogan while wrestling in WCW and he became an unlikely friend of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.   

Much of that will likely be covered in the movie, which is being distributed by Lionsgate. A release date has not yet been announced.

"There’s only one Dennis Rodman. 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," Nathan Kahane, president of Lionsgate, said in a statement. "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!"

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