Ben Affleck Reveals Michael Jordan's Demands For 'AIR', Film Receives Standing Ovation at SXSW
justjared.comBen Affleck opened up about his conversation with Michael Jordan before working on the biopic AIR.
The 50-year-old actor teamed up with Matt Damon to make the film which premiered during the 2023 SXSW Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas. “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 said as he introduced the film at the premiere. Keep reading to find out more… “One of them was that [Nike executive] Howard White needed to be in the movie,” Ben said. White was not in the original script of the film. “Michael Jordan, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the most intimidating, impressive men you’ll ever see in your life,” Ben said, per Variety. “He told me about is father.
And then he talked about his mother. It was the first time I saw this look cross his face. It was a look of reverence, of awe, of love, and gratitude, and innocence.
He said, ‘None of this would have ever happened without my mother.’ I said, ‘Who would you like to play your mom?’ He said, ‘Well, it has to be Viola Davis.” “That’s like saying, ‘Can I play basketball on your court?’ ‘Yeah, if you get Michael Jordan.’ “Viola Davis is the best actor I’ve ever seen,” Ben noted. “This is a hard business.
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