“Air” opens in theaters, with Ben Affleck directing and performing and Michael Jordan blessing

It’s not just the favorite model of Hollywood memes. am Affleck reminds us of this during the leading role skyplaying the founder and president of the company Nike, Phil Knight, responsible for securing a partnership with NBA star Michael Jordan to create the shoe that would become a global bestseller.

Jennifer Lopez joins Ben Affleck’s memes: “Look at my husband’s happy face”

In the film, a despondent knight confronts the reality of the 1980s No one in America knows what a Nike is. (far from being pronounced náiki) nor does it recognize the logo in the shape of a check mark. The NBA’s unofficial shoe is the Converse. Together with your seller Sonny Vaccaro (Affleck’s inseparable Matt Damon) they risk persuading a rookie, Michael Jordan, to design and wear a sneaker that will earn them recognition and sales. Even if that rookie had never played on an NBA court.

But they can’t deal with him (in fact, Jordan’s character never appears in the film), since everything that needs to be discussed with the young man is done through his formidable and stern mother, which is what he’s there for. Oscar (and Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony) winning actress Viola Davis.

Affleck, who directs and co-produces this film with Damon from a script by Alex Convery, He’s not just trying to sell the Jordans a shoe, he’s trying to convince us all of the beauty of human excellence., of genius, in this case that of Michael Jordan. “There is a mystery what exactly makes him who he is. That elite level, that superiority, the greatest basketball player who ever lived.”

But this is also a story about how marketing transformed the sports worldand big-name athletes began to be compensated and turned into fashion and screen celebrities. The association of the brand with personal identity which is one of the elements of global culture today.

“sky It’s not Michael Jordan, but it doesn’t exist without him,” explains Jennifer López’s husband, assuring that he communicated with the 60-year-old star and that he is very grateful for what he shared with the production. “His presence and influence is felt throughout the film, even though we don’t see his face.”

The absence of an actor playing Michael also allows the viewer to concentrate the real protagonist of the story, the athlete’s mother, Deloris Jordan. “I wanted to do justice to her, to both of them, and to honor who they are and the impact they’ve had on our culture.”

Matt Damon acknowledges that many people go to a movie with expectations of a sports story, but Deloris is the character. Viola Davis justifies this decision. “There are agents of change that we don’t necessarily see or know about. We only know Deloris from Michael Jordan, but she was someone who was able to make huge changes in the space she was in.”

Who chose Davis? Affleck adds that he didn’t want to do that sky without Jordan’s blessing, and that when they met he made some suggestions about which real characters should show up to make it all make sense, but also he said very clearly that he wanted Viola Davis to recreate his mothercurrently 81 years old.

Instead, the actor-director found out couldn’t find anyone as convincing as Jordan. “For everyone to talk about you without seeing you is analogous to the experience of celebrities and sports stars in modern life, most people never meet them in person (…), to do that they would put their feet on the ground in a way that this movie doesn’t.”

Also in the cast are Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser, Nike’s vice president of marketing; Chris Tucker, hilarious in his role as former player turned consultant Howard White; Chris Messina as Jordan’s agent and Marlon Wayans as the coach of the star at the 1984 Olympics.