If you haven’t updated yourself via the IMDB rumor section (if that even exists), exactly, similar like we were, surprised when the internet got its latest movie buzz. WILL THERE BE A NIKE MOVIE? Yes, and no. So, let’s start at the beginning, or at least what we know so far.
Yes, Ben Affleck made a movie about Nike and how it was saved by the Air Jordan franchise in the mid-‘80s. The story follows the shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro and how he discovered Michael Jordan. AIR is a movie about the partnership between Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which became the biggest basketball cultural movement ever seen.
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The special part about this movie is that you know everything about your favorite stars nowadays. It’s all well documented, and everything is ready to be consumed on social media. With Michael Jordan, it isn’t. Therefore, it’s fascinating to see the story on the big screen, how his mother was involved, and how the story became iconic today.
“I“ had a chance to sit down with Michael Jordan, because I just wasn’t going to make this movie without asking him, ‘What matters to you?’ Interestingly, and tellingly, he had a few things that mattered.“
Ben Affleck on meeting MJ
Starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, Chris Tucker, and Viola Davis, the movie is not a Nike-made movie, it’s an MGM production without the involvement of Nike. But Ben Affleck, who is starring in the film, playing Phil Knight, and also directed it, was keen to get the nod from MJ.
“Viola Davis is the best actor I’ve ever seen.”
Michael Jordan on who he wanted to play his mother
Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser, Nike’s director of marketing, checking out the first samples of AJ1s
Is Michael Jordan in Air?
“I did not ever plan on it, because I never thought for a second—hey, Michael is so magnificent, so famous, the whole reason why he represents and means what he does in terms of greatness and excellence, is because he’s so, so enigmatic and majestic and identifiable immediately, by his carriage and demeanor and what we’ve seen him do physically” with Affleck believing “the one sure way to ruin the movie and have the audience understand that the whole thing is a fraud is to point the camera at anybody that’s not Michael Jordan and say, ‘Hey, that’s Michael Jordan!'”
Ben Affleck about why Michael Jordan is not in “Air”
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SNS will host the Swedish premiere, so stay tuned.
