Ben Affleck puts Nike’s adventures on the table to sign a rookie named Michael Jordan. The film he directs Air, It opens in April of this year, and has the particularity that the face of the NBA legend will not appear.
In the trailer, a figure appears that embodies Jordan but only from behind. For the rest, the story will be told with the characters around the mythical player.
What is the reason for this to happen? According to Affleck, “Jordan is very big… he exists above and around the story, but if you concretize him, if you say ‘Yeah, that’s Michael Jordan’, we know he’s not really Michael Jordan. He is a fake Jordan.”
The statements from Affleck, who directs and has a role in the film as Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, were given at the South by Southwest event last weekend.
The film was screened to a small audience, receiving a standing ovation.. Air will be released on April 5 in major theaters in the United States.
Michael Jordan’s two requests for the movie Air, according to Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck recounted that received the seal of approval from Michael Jordan himself to make the film, and that the NBA star made two requests.
The first, that the character of Howard White, the vice president of the Jordan Brand, appeared: He is played by Chris Tucker.
And the second, that Deloris, Her Majesty’s mother, it had to be embodied by the great Viola Davis.
“He told me about his father. And then he told me about his mother,” Affleck recounted. “It was the first time I saw that look cross his face. It was a look of reverence, of wonder, of love, gratitude, and innocence.”
Said Jordan, according to Affleck: “None of this would have happened without my mother.”
“I asked her, ‘Who would you like to play your mom?’ He said: ‘Well, It has to be Viola Davis.”
In addition to Affleck, Tucker and Davis, Matt Damon will play the role of Sonny Vaccaro, the Nike executive who signed the exclusive contract with Michael Jordan.