Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker and Marlon Wayans Join Ben Affleck, Matt Damon’s Nike Movie
variety.comAngelique Jackson Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s upcoming movie about the sports marketing executive who relentlessly pursued basketball legend Michael Jordan in the mid-’80s has added a troupe of all-star actors to its line-up.Emmy-winner Jason Bateman, Academy Award-winner Viola Davis, Chris Tucker and Marlon Wayans have signed on to star opposite Affleck and Damon in Prime Video’s untitled film, along with Matthew Maher, Chris Messina, Tom Papa and Julius Tennon.Damon plays maverick sneaker salesman and former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, and Affleck plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight in the film, from Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports and Mandalay Pictures.
The movie tells the story of Nike’s long-shot effort to sign Jordan to the shoe company, an endorsement that seemed impossible at the time, but would become the most significant relationship between an athletic brand and an athlete.
The strategic partnership helped launch the global, multibillion-dollar contemporary sneaker industry. In the film, Bateman will star as Rob Strasser, the longtime Nike executive (and Vaccaro’s boss), who was instrumental in the company’s efforts to sign, and later promote, Jordan as he oversaw the company’s marketing and messaging.
Davis will play Michael Jordan’s mother Deloris, who had enormous influence on the basketball legend’s decision to sign the deal.
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