Matt Damon & Ben Affleck Launching Production Company With RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale Funding & Jeff Robinov Circling
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: While Ben Affleck just started Monday directing the untitled drama about maverick sneaker salesman Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon)’s dogged pursuit to get Michael Jordan to lace up in Nike shoes, Affleck and Damon are getting traction on their own groundbreaking endeavor.They are negotiating to launch a new monied production company that is in talks to be funded by RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale.
Deadline hears that Studio 8 CEO Jeff Robinov is circling a potential role. Robinov has long history with both Affleck (Argo and The Town) and Damon (Ocean’s Eleven franchise) during his days running Warner Bros.
The intention is to generate big time content.The untitled Nike movie is being done for Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports and Mandalay Pictures, but sources said that the new company will likely have a producing role on the film as well.
It’s based on a Black List script called Air Jordan by Alex Convery, and Good Will Hunting scribes Affleck and Damon took a pass on that script about how Nike co-founder Phil Knight (played by Affleck) sent Vaccaro in a quest to sign Jordan in what became the most important athlete product intertwining ever.
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