Ben Affleck is back in the director’s chair to present Air: The story behind the logo. In this film, the story is told of how Nike convinced Michael Jordan, a legendary athlete, to create Air Jordan, a legendary brand of sneakers based on his image.
But an important part of the film is, precisely, to emphasize that it was not only the executives of the sports company who were essential to achieve the involvement of the basketball star in the creation of the product. Yes, Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), sales creative, and Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), co-founder of the conglomerate, had something to do with it. However, there was one person who was the key for the deal to close.
That person is Deloris Jordan, mother of the athlete. Within the events portrayed in the film, it is explained how Deloris spoke seriously with her son so that she would accept the proposal for the creation of the sneakers, thus giving way to the launch of the most revolutionary brand in the world of sports. During a special screening of the film (via Variety), Affleck detailed how Michael Jordan gave his blessing to Air: The story behind the logo. The star of the field said “yes”, but there was a condition: that his mother was played by a great actress.
“I received the script and had the opportunity to speak with Michael again. Michael Jordan, for those of you who don’t know him, is one of the most intimidating and impressive men you will ever see in his life,” said the filmmaker. «He told me about his father. And then he talked about his mother. It was the first time I’d seen that look cross his face. It was a look of reverence, wonder, love, gratitude, and innocence. He said: ‘None of this would have happened without my mother.’ I asked her, ‘Who would you like to play your mother?’ He replied: ‘Well, she has to be Viola Davis’ ».
Subsequently, Ben Affleck took the opportunity to praise Davis and remember that he had always wanted to work with her as a director, but had not had the opportunity to do so until now. These were her words:
“Viola Davis is the best actress I’ve ever seen. This is a difficult business. It’s hard to know if you’re successful. It is difficult to know if you have achieved something. But honestly, I always thought that if one day I became a director and had Viola Davis in a movie, that would be something. It would mean a lot to me. And so it is.
If you noticed, Affleck mentions that he “talked again” with Jordan. This is because she had already had the chance to meet him before. In that first meeting, the Chicago Bulls player put another condition for the film to be made. This is how the director recalled:
“I had the chance to sit down with Michael Jordan, because I wasn’t going to make this movie without asking him, ‘What do you care about?’ Interestingly, and tellingly, he had a few things that mattered to him.”
Then, Affleck clarified that the other condition was that Howard White, the vice president of the Jordan company, played by Chris Tucker, appeared on the tape.
Air: The story behind the logo arrives in Mexican movie theaters on April 6.
Jose Roberto Landaverde Movie buff and music lover. I am fascinated by writing, listening, reading and commenting on everything related to the seventh art. I’m a fan of Rocky and Back to the Future and obviously one day I’ll climb the “Philly Steps” and drive a DeLorean. Faithful believer that cinema is the best teleportation machine, and also that on the big screen we can all see ourselves represented. I constantly, like Scott Pilgrim, ask myself: “Does bread make you fat?”