'Michael Jordan' was originally supposed to play the role that Bo Kimble went on to take. In the fall of 1998, the filmmakers went to courts with a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Jordan seeking at least $16 million in damages, citing the lack of Jordan as the cause of the film's box-office flop and the derailment of director Randall Fried, who in the words of their attorney, "should have been and would have been the next Steven Spielberg" if the film had been successful. Jordan countersued. The jury founded Jordan not liable and awarded him $50,000 in favor of his countersuit.