’Air’ Press Conference with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon

Based on the true story of Nike’s makes an attempt to woo Jordan to signal an unique shoe contract earlier than he’s ever suited up and performed a sport {of professional} basketball, the film stars Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, the sports activities advertising and marketing government and longtime hoops scout who pushes Nike chairman and CEO Phil Knight (Affleck) to desert the usual observe of spreading round endorsement offers, and as an alternative put all their effort into signing one participant he believes has the potential to be a star. Viola Davis and real-life husband Julius Tennon painting Deloris and James Jordan, the hoops legend’s loving mother and father.

Moviefone just lately had the pleasure of attending a pair of digital press conferences for ’Air,’ together with a number of different shops. In attendance in a single interview session have been Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Chris Messina, and Matthew Maher, whereas the second session of the double-tilt featured Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Julius Tennon, Marlon Wayans, and screenwriter Alex Convery.

Here are 10 issues we discovered from the ’Air’ press convention, edited for readability and size.

Ben Affleck as Phil Knight in ‘Air.’ Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

1. Ben Affleck Was Going to Walk Away From the Film If Michael Jordan Asked Him To

Ben Affleck is a Golden Globe Best Director winner, so his dedication behind the digicam could be sufficient to get films of a sure funds made. But his dedication to ‘Air’ wasn’t absolute.

Ben Affleck: I went to talk to Michael, as a result of I’ve been fortunate sufficient to run throughout him a couple of occasions. I’m not gonna act like me and him are pals. I similar to idolized the man, and each from time to time I’ve had an opportunity to spend time with him. It’s been very memorable for me, although in all probability he’s forgotten it. But I had not less than sufficient of an in to say, “Hey, can I come see you and just run this past you?” Because to be sincere, from a point-of-view of respect for him, his household, who he’s, and what he means, the stupidest factor on the planet could be to go make a film that, (regardless that) he doesn’t seem in, nonetheless invokes his identify and tells part of his story, if he was against. So if he stated don’t do it, I simply was gonna not do it. That could be that. And I used to be very, very ready for that to be the results of (our dialog), as a result of I had no cause to assume he could be open to it or that he would welcome it. However, what I discovered was that he was very gracious after I stated, look, this isn’t traditionally correct, within the sense that I can’t dot each I and cross each T — that is gonna need to be one thing of a fable, a parable, an inspiring story. So I’m gonna take liberties with the intention to make it an hour and 30 or 40 minutes, however I don’t wanna violate something that’s basically necessary or true to you. So when you would please inform me what these issues are, I promise you they’ll be sacrosanct. And I feel it was telling that he wasn’t anyone who was like, “Whoa, we gotta talk about when I did this, and I did that,” (as a result of) there are individuals who take that strategy. He solely talked about different individuals. He wished to ensure that different individuals who have been significant have been included within the story. George Raveling was considered one of them. Then he additionally stated Howard White is integral to this too.

Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro in Air.’ Photo: Ana Carballos. © Amazon Content Servoces LLC.

2. Screenwriter Alex Convery Watched ’The Last Dance’ Just Like You

The 10-episode Netflix docu-series ‘The Last Dance’ was an enormous hit through the early months of the COVID pandemic. And in actual fact it birthed the concept for ‘Air.’

Alex Convery: I’m a ’90s Chicago child, which is the place the Bulls and Michael Jordan and my connection comes from. But like everybody else, I used to be locked up throughout these first couple of months of quarantine, watching ‘The Last Dance.’ There’s a little bit five-minute clip about Nike and simply how Air Jordans got here collectively. And I used to be at some extent in my profession the place, , you’re attempting to put in writing a script that will get seen. So when you’ll be able to clarify the film in a single sentence — it’s a narrative of how Nike acquired Michael Jordan — it has that capability, ? It goes to the highest of the pile, and perhaps individuals will give it a bit extra of an opportunity. But like the whole lot, it comes all the way down to characters, proper? So the query was, who could be the protagonist and the engine of this film? And discovering each Sonny and Deloris was actually, to me, what elevated it above only a film a couple of shoe and Michael Jordan. It’s discovering the human parts in a really huge film. I name them “big little movies.” The little (half) being, that is only a film a couple of shoe deal, proper? It takes place over per week or so, and it’s small in scope, however the huge half is if you say it’s about Nike and Michael Jordan. You might speak to 100 individuals on the road, and all 100 of them are going to know who Michael Jordan is and what Nike is. And to me, that’s what sort of elevates it above only a film a couple of shoe.

Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan in ‘Air.’ Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

3. Michael Jordan Asked For Viola Davis To Play His Mother

The hoops G.O.A.T. had some casting recommendation for Ben Affleck, rooted in his robust relationship to his mom Deloris.

Ben Affleck: (Michael) stated, “You know, I didn’t wanna go to Portland. I would’ve signed my shoe rights away for life for a red Mercedes. My mom told me to go to Beaverton.” And when I saw how he talked about his mother — the regard and esteem in which he held her, the reverence and respect and adoration and love when he talked about his mother — it just shocked me, and shame on me for not kind of assuming this was the case. But when I heard it, I realized right away this is the story — and a beautiful story. It’s a story about Deloris Jordan and what she means to Michael, and that she’s emblematic of what so many mothers must have meant to so many athletes and entertainers and people in this business who are oftentimes very young and thrust into a world of fame and money that can be confusing, and must require enormous amounts of guidance. So I thought, actually this is brilliant. This is what the story is. This is beautiful, and this is the protagonist. And I said offhandedly (to Michael), who do you think should play your mom? And he said it has to be Viola Davis. I was like, okay. That’s kind of like saying, “Can I get a basketball team together? Sure. It has to (have) Michael Jordan.” You’re like, well, all right. (laughs) But then I thought, you know, this is very typical of who this guy is. Like, it has to be the very best, absolutely. So I knew that it was incumbent on us to create a role that was worthy of Viola, and we tried to do that.

Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan in ‘Air.’ Photo: Ana Carballos. © Amazon Content Servoces LLC.

4. Viola Davis Found Her Character In a Preternatural Steadiness

Michael Jordan is famously one of the most competitive and intense athletes of all time. His mother Deloris, though, had a different defining characteristic.

Viola Davis: Stepping into the role, if you watch videos, Deloris Jordan is a study in Zen neutrality. The woman is very, very steady and quiet, you know? I mean, I would imagine that even when she gets mad, she’s probably very, very, very steady. (laughs) So to really just envelope that spirit and everything was a challenge for me, because I’m the woman who always has a chip on her shoulder. I go in bombastic, you know? So it was both flattering, challenging, and then just a joy to work with Matt and Ben and all these terrific actors. Me and Julius still talk about it to this day, as just one of the greatest experiences.

(L to R) Matthew Maher as Peter Moore, Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro and Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser in ‘Air.’ Photo: Ana Carballosa. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

Related Article: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Team up for Nike Movie

5. As With a Lot of Interesting Stories, ’Air’ Surprisingly Reframes a Known Character or Entity

With annual revenue in excess of $45 billion, Nike is the undisputed giant of the footwear and athletic apparel industry. But not in ‘Air.’

Matt Damon: We were really trying to capture the spirit of these people in this time more than anything — not exactly who said what at exactly what moment. All of these people on the Nike side, independent of one another, have talked about this time with such nostalgia. And that’s what we were trying to create and remind people about, you know? They were the underdog, which is such a weird way to think of Nike now. But before this incredible deal, they really were these renegades, and kind of outsiders. And so it really is one of those stories that comes along and you go, “Wow, this is really for everybody.” We used to call them feel-good movies. You should leave the theater with, like, a skip in your step.

(L to R) Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan and Julius Tennon as James Jordan in ‘Air.’ Photo: Ana Carballos. © Amazon Content Servoces LLC.

6. The Sensitivity Modeled in Deloris and James Jordan’s Relationship Mirrors Viola Davis’ Real-Life Relationship

In real life, James Jordan modeled a quiet strength, preferring to let his wife Deloris handle most of the talking. But he stood by her fiercely. For Davis, parts of the relationship mirrored her own marriage with Julius Tennon.

Viola Davis: That is our dynamic in real life. You know, Julius has told me since we got together, he said, “Vee [phonetic], now when you come home and it’s late at night, you make sure you don’t get out of that car until the gates close. And if someone’s following you, you lay on that horn and I’m gonna come out with my baseball bat, and I’ll put it on their ass.” (laughs) And, you know, I laid on the horn once by accident after coming home at three o’clock in the morning, and I counted to five. Julius came out with the baseball bat, and I knew — I was like, “That’s it, I’m gonna marry him. This is my dude.”

Chris Messina as David Falk in ‘Air.’ Photo: Ana Carballos. © Amazon Content Servoces LLC.

7. Chris Messina Enjoyed His Character’s Angry Phone Calls

Chris Messina co-stars as David Falk, Michael Jordan’s famously hot-tempered agent. But for scenes in which he has heated phone calls, he wasn’t just yelling by himself.

Chris Messina: When Ben calls you up, you don’t even need to read the script, because I’ve gotten to work with him now three times and it’s always an amazing experience. It’s always surrounded by great artists in front of the camera and behind the camera. So when I read it, I loved it, but I was like, “Oh shit, these are a lot of phone calls.” (laughs) But Ben did something that I’ve never done in my career, and I’ve done a lot of phone calls. Usually you call the other actor, the phone disconnects, or a script supervisor does it with you. But Matt and I were actually down the hallway from each other. We each had three cameras on us, and Ben would go back and forth from room to room, we’d all get together and we had a blast doing it. The script was amazing, but we could play, we could overlap, we could improvise.

Marlon Wayans as George Raveling in ‘Air.’ Photo: Ana Carballos. © Amazon Content Servoces LLC.

8. Marlon Wayans Used YouTube For Research, But Wasn’t Aiming For an Impression

In basketball circles, George Raveling is a well-known figure — and, as Marlon Mayans learned, one with other connections to history at large. But neither Wayans nor Affleck wanted an impersonation.

Marlon Wayans: I did a crash course on YouTube, and I learned a lot about George Raveling. I learned he was a fantastic man. And when I read the monologue (in the movie), and the fact that that was real, and that he still has (the original copy of Martin Luther King’s) “I Have a Dream” speech in his possession, I just thought that it was an amazing character to play. And usually, the more you research, the better you can do in terms of your performance. But what I love was when we went on set, Ben was like, you know, “We’re not impersonating. You can bring you to it.” And for an actor that’s always the best thing you can do: when I can mix that person with my emotions and what you bring. The script was already written so beautifully, but also we got to play. Then I could get out of my head and really have fun. And that’s what it was. When I left the set, I just felt like if every day on that set felt like the first day, that’s going to be a magical movie.

Chris Tucker as Howard White in ‘Air.’ Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

9. Ben Affleck Has Always Wanted to Work with Chris Tucker

Everyone knows about Ben Affleck’s longtime friendship with Matt Damon. But ‘Air’ checked some other boxes for the multi-hyphenate, too.

Ben Affleck: This is a group of people who either I had known for a long, long time, (many) of whom I’ve worked with multiple times and know well and adore and admire, and then people who have been my sort of life’s goal to work with, in Viola Davis and Chris Tucker. In fact, I think Chris can attest the number of times I’ve harassed him — he passed me by in a hotel lobby and I’m like, “Chris, Chris, Chris, I wanna do a movie with you!” (laughs) I feel like humor is the highest form of intelligence, you know what I mean? So I feel like guys like Chris are the smartest, most interesting people you can meet. People to find the humor and the joy in life is just a magic that I wanna be around. Like, a few times I’ve made him laugh and I take a secret pride in that. I’m like, “He just laughed at my joke!”

Matthew Maher as Peter Moore in Air.’ Photo: Ana Carballos. © Amazon Content Servoces LLC.

10. Matthew Maher Located a Similarity Between His Character, the Designer of the Iconic Air Jordans, and Athletes

Of course, everyone knows Michael Jordan, too. But to hardcore sneaker-heads, designer Peter Moore is also a celebrity — and he even wore it like an athlete.

Matthew Maher: Weirdly, Peter Moore just passed away like a week before I was offered the movie. And I definitely did dive in (for research), I read a lot of blogs and I watched documentaries where he was featured. But what shocked me was looking at his designs and his ideas, which were so amazing and ahead of their time, where he’s talking and he’s just like a regular guy, you know? He’s talking and he says, “Yeah, there was too much red and then we decided to just leave it that way.” He was very like direct (in all his descriptions). And I thought the biggest parallel was listening to how pro athletes talk about what they do, which is like, “Well, we just kept at it,” even though they’re doing these amazing things (that others can’t). A genius doesn’t always express himself very well when he’s talking about his (own) genius acts.

Director Ben Affleck on the set of ‘Air.’ Photo: Ana Carballos. © Amazon Content Servoces LLC.

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‘Air’ is produced by David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, Jon Weinbach, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Madison Ainley, Jeff Robinov, Peter Guber, and Jason Michael Berman. It is ready to launch unique in theaters on April 5, 2023.