Matt Damon And Ben Affleck Star In Biopic About Michael Jordan’s Shoes
Michael Jordan’s life story is well documented. He grew up and played high school basketball in Wilmington, North Carolina. Dean Smith recruited him to play college basketball at UNC. Then there was the Olympic gold medal in 1984. Drafted by the Chicago Bulls that same year. Six NBA championships. Multiple MVP awards and All-Star appearances. Another Olympic gold medal with the “Dream Team” in 1992. A couple of retirements. A little bit of minor league baseball. A brief stint with the Washington Wizards. And now he owns the Charlotte Hornets.
Over the years, there has also been A LOT of endorsement money for Michael Jordan from, among others, Gatorade, McDonalds, Hanes and, of course, Nike. How that last one came about way back in 1984 is a heck of a story. So much so that Hollywood is putting it on the big screen this spring. The first trailer (below) for AIR has just been released. It’s essentially a biopic about Michael Jordan’s shoes.
JoBlo.com shared the film’s synopsis: “From award-winning director Ben Affleck, AIR reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand. This moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.”
Matt Damon stars in AIR as Sonny Vaccaro, the Nike executive/dreamer who built the shoe and lifestyle brand around Michael Jordan. In addition to directing, Ben Affleck plays Nike founder Phil Knight. The star-studded cast also includes Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, and Chris Tucker. Based on the IMDb cast list, it doesn’t appear that anyone plays Michael Jordan in the movie. AIR opens in theaters on April 5th.
