Longtime collaborators Ben Affleck and Matt Damon team up again in Air, the story of how Nike created the most profitable basketball sneaker brand of all time based on the real people who lived it. The film follows a group of Nike executives in 1984 who reinvigorate their athletic shoe company by investing in the superstar potential of NBA rookie Michael Jordan. Their wisdom came a full seven years before his first of six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.
With the massive success and prestige Nike achieved thanks to the incredible talent of Michael Jordan, it's difficult to imagine a world where the original Air Jordan shoe didn't exist. Air portrays the lesser-known details and risks Nike took in the process of creating the Air Jordan back in a time when a different sneaker brand, Converse, was considered the elite NBA standard. The film chronicles the key players on both sides of the deal that became instrumental in the takeoff of Air Jordan's worldwide success, which has paved the way for many other NBA stars to create their own legacies through signature branding.
Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro
Matt Damon leads as John Paul Vincent "Sonny" Vaccaro, a Nike marketing and sales representative tasked with saving his drowning basketball department. Sonny relentlessly pursues Michael Jordan to sign his first shoe deal with Nike before eventually moving on as an executive at Adidas and Reebok. Damon has starred in dozens of major blockbusters including Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Ridley Scott's The Martian, and James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari, and has had famous cameos in Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder and Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.
Ben Affleck as Phil Knight
Ben Affleck co-stars as the co-founder and chairman of Nike, Phil Knight, who was also the CEO at the time when the movie takes place and is currently one of the wealthiest people in the world. Affleck is also the director of Air, making it the first feature film in which he has directed Matt Damon. Affleck and Damon became a dynamic duo in Hollywood after starring in Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting together and winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1998. Affleck has previously directed and starred in Argo which won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2013 and has played Batman in the DCU since Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016.
Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan
Viola Davis plays the impactful role of Michael Jordan's real-life mother, Deloris Jordan, who convinced Michael to take the deal with Nike after the young star expressed apprehension about the deal. Deloris wanted what was best for Michael but was also a guarded and protective mother who approached the offer with scrutiny but eventually persuaded Michael that he would regret turning it down. Davis is a legend in her own right in film and television, having previously starred in the ABC series How To Get Away With Murder and more recently Gina Prince-Bythewood's The Woman King. She won Best ing Actress for her role in Fences at the 2016 Oscars.
Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser
Jason Bateman takes on the role of Rob Strasser, who was Nike's marketing director at the time the movie takes place and Sonny Vacaro's supervisor. Strasser's real life nickname was "Rolling Thunder" and was known to be a voracious in his business pursuits, which greatly influenced the g of Michael Jordan to Nike. Bateman is a TV and film star who is celebrated for his deadpan deliveries in Arrested Development and his eerie causality in the Netflix drama series Ozark. He has also starred in Joel Edgerton's The Gift and Seth Gordon's Horrible Bosses.
Chris Tucker as Howard White
The enigmatic Chris Tucker appears as Nike executive Howard White, who currently sits as the Vice President of the Air Jordan Brand and has acted as a trustworthy business mentor for Michael Jordan throughout his career. Chris Tucker is a legendary stand-up comedian who has appeared sparingly in movies since the culturally sensational Rush Hour trilogy that enthralled audiences from 1998-2007. Since then, he has only appeared on-screen in David O. Russell's Silver Lining's Playbook and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.
Marlon Wayans as George Raveling
Marlon Wayans s the cast as longtime college basketball coach George Raveling, who served as the head coach of three Division I basketball programs over a span of twenty years. Most notably Wayans was an assistant coach to Bobby Knight for the United States Olympic team in 1984 which Michael Jordan was a part of and went on to win the gold medal. Marlon Wayans is a stand-up comedian and a screenwriter responsible for the Scary Movie franchise, and has starred is other cult classics White Chicks, A Haunted House, and Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream.
Chris Messina as David Falk
Chris Messina is a dramatic actor that portrays sports agent David Falk, who was Michael Jordan's actual agent at the time of the Nike deal. Falk was a trailblazer in setting up groundbreaking sneaker deals for athletes, having also gotten NBA legend James Worthy a six figure g, and was responsible for negotiating an offer of nearly half a million dollars. Chris Messina has appeared in two previous Affleck-directed films, Argo and 2016's Live By Night, and has also acted in Netflix's I Care A Lot as well as HBO's Sharp Objects and The Newsroom.
Air ing Cast & Characters
Julius Tennon as James Jordan, Michael Jordan's father, who tragically ed away in 1993 just one month after his son won his third consecutive NBA Title. Tennon has appeared alongside Viola Davis in both How To Get Away With Murder and The Woman King.
Matthew Maher as Peter Moore, a designer and creative director at Nike during the time of the Jordan deal. Before appearing in Air, Maher has appeared in Gone Baby Gone, Marriage Story, Lady Bird, and Apple TV's Hello Tomorrow!
Tom Papa as Stu Inman, the notorious General Manager of the Portland Trail Blazers who used his number two overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft to pick a player named Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan, who was then drafted third overall by the Chicago Bulls. Aside from the potential box office hit Air, Tom Papa is a stand-up comedian and actor who has appeared in The Knick, North Hollywood, The Informant!, and Bee Movie.
