Ben Affleck on the Demands Michael Jordan Made Before He Directed ‘Air’
variety.comSelome Hailu Ben Affleck says he never would have made “Air” without Michael Jordan’s blessing, but that blessing came with one major request.
Her name? Viola Davis. Directed by Affleck, the movie stars Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, the Nike employee who convinced Jordan to sign the deal that allowed for the creation of the Air Jordan shoe line.
Introducing “Air” at its South by Southwest world premiere, Affleck said, “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.” “One of them was that Howard White needed to be in the movie,” Affleck said, referring to the vice president of the Jordan brand.
Hearing about White made Affleck realize he had an opportunity to cast Chris Tucker, with whom he’d wanted to work for a long time. “I got the script and then had the chance again to talk to Michael.
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