Basketball fans are no doubt familiar with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s work in Air, the 2023 drama about the origin of the Air Jordan shoe line at Nike. Affleck played Nike co-founder Phil Knight, while Damon played legendary sneaker executive Sonny Vaccaro. The movie ended up receiving an Oscar nomination, but two years later, people are still wondering why they never cast anyone to play Michael Jordan.
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Affleck appeared on the All the Smoke podcast this week to promote their new movie, ‘The Rip’. While he was it, the Argo actor also touched on a wide range of topics with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, including the making of Air and his meeting with Michael Jordan before production on the film began.
“When we got a hold of this story,” Affleck said, “I knew [Jordan] well enough basically just to call him up and go, ‘Hey look, I got a hold of this script, I’d like to make the movie, but I have too much respect for you and what you mean, and I’m not gonna do anything that you’re not down with.”
Jordan invited Affleck out to his golf course, and the two went over Jordan’s recollections of that time, as well as what was most important to him that the movie get right.
Unsurprisingly, it was the way his family was portrayed. MJ insisted that legendary actress Viola Davis play his mother Deloris, but when it came to who would play him, Affleck had his own idea.
“Mike, I’m not gonna put you in the movie,” he recalled saying, “because you’re such an icon, as soon as I show somebody and try to be like, ‘That’s Michael Jordan,’ you’re just gonna be like, ‘No it isn’t.’ You can’t show a silhouette, you’re like no, it’s not him.”
“I don’t know if he liked that or not,” Affleck laughed, “but he was like, ‘Alright,'” before mandating that Davis be the one to play his mom.
Affleck had worked with Davis on Suicide Squad, and he wrote the part specifically for her. When he told her that MJ had specifically requested her, that sealed the deal, and for anyone that has seen the movie, they know that she knocked it out of the park. One fun tidbit is that MJ’s dad James ended up being played by Davis’ real husband Julius Tennon.
MJ himself is seen very briefly in the movie, but in a fleeting way in which we never see his face or his full figure. That kept the focus on Deloris and Nike, and ultimately made for a successful movie about the early days of an icon. If you want to actually see MJ in a movie, go watch Space Jam.
Air is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
