When Viola Davis Opened Up About Her Only Encounter With Michael Jordan Before Playing His Mother’s Role

It’s a tall task to make a film about the greatness of Michael Jordan and the influence he continues to have over the game of basketball. That’s what Amazon attempted in 2023 when they released Air, a biopic about His Airness signing the industry-altering contract with Nike in his rookie season, a deal that altered popular culture forever.

Although MJ is barely seen in the film, one character that had significant screen-time is his mother, Deloris Jordan. Playing the role of Deloris was Academy Award winner Viola Davis (Fences, Doubt). While Davis is as excellent in Hollywood as MJ was in basketball, the story of how she landed the part is surprisingly coincidental.

Shortly after the film was first screened in 2023, she interviewed alongside Davis and Air’s director, Ben Affleck with Business Insider. The acclaimed actress revealed that she had only met the NBA GOAT one time in her life.

Davis detailed the random encounter they had outside of a Park Hyatt Hotel years prior. MJ’s wife was also there, and commended Davis on her work in the series How To Get Away With Murder.

“I met Michael once randomly outside the Park Hyatt Hotel,” Davis laughingly stated. “His wife liked ‘How to Get Away with Murder.'”

That encounter ended up being more than a fun story for Davis. Jordan specifically requested to Affleck that the now 59-year-old play his mother in Air. Davis happily accepted, but she never knew how much Jordan campaigned for her to be involved. Not until the premiere.

Davis was flattered when she found out that Jordan handpicked her to play his mom

Air made its official premiere at the popular South By Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas in the spring of 2023. While walking the red carpet, Davis was informed that Jordan personally selected her for the role of Deloris. The starlet was taken aback, but was ultimately very flattered.

“I’m just hearing about it now,” Davis stated at the time. “So yeah, so it blew my mind. I’m glad I didn’t know about it before.”

Air went on to receive critical acclaim, with many praising Davis’ honest and sincere performance. It was Deloris after all who convinced MJ to meet with Nike after the rising star had his eyes set on a deal with Adidas, so Davis nailing the part was essential for the film’s success.

And what a success it was. Air earned $90 million at the box office off of a budget between $75-90 million, but was a big hit for Amazon once it hit its streaming platform, where it remains to this day.

Post Edited By: Dhruv Rupani

Ben Affleck Michael Jordan Viola Davis

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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