Ben Affleck Reveals His Friendship With Michael Jordan
His latest is the Air Jordan origin story.
It’s been seven years since Ben Affleck last sat in the director’s chair for a movie. This time, he’s the filmmaker behind Air, where he directs himself and longtime buddy Matt Damon as the men who made the Air Jordans happen. Ahead of the 2023 new movie release arriving to theaters soon, Affleck has revealed a friendship that emerged in real life between himself and Michael Jordan.
When Ben Affleck was asked about how he approached Michael Jordan about telling the story about how he struck a deal with Nike for the legendary shoe line, the actor/filmmaker revealed he has a relationship with the former NBA basketball player. In his words:
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Affleck revealed that he has played some games with the sports icon, along with sharing how much Michael Jordan means to him personally. As Affleck continued:
Release Date: April 5, 2023
Directed By: Ben Affleck
Written By: Alex Convery
Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker, Damian Delano Young
Air premiered at SXSW this week to impressed critics who expressed that Ben Affleck’s fifth directorial effort is a “slam dunk” for him. The movie follows Matt Damon as shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro as he pitches the idea of Michael Jordan getting into the shoe business to co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight, played by Affleck.
Affleck has also shared that he sat down with Michael Jordan prior to getting cameras rolling on Air because he wanted to ask him first. Clearly things went over well between them, except for the fact that Affleck declined his offer to play golf together. During their conversations, Jordan also requested that Viola Davis play his mother in Air, and Jordan got the exact actress he wanted for the portrayal!
Along with Affleck meeting with Michael Jordan ahead of making Air, he got to reunite with his good friend Matt Damon after previously sharing the screen in multiple movies, which of course includes Good Will Hunting, which the pair wrote and starred in together and put them both on the map in a big way. In 2021, they recently paired up for Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel.
When speaking to his most recent experience working with Damon, Affleck called it the “best work experience of my life” especially thanks to having the fellow actor by his side again. Affleck also received some help from wife and superstar Jennifer Lopez in regards to being schooled on fashion history in the context of the movie. You can see Ben Affleck’s Air when it hits theaters on April 5.
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Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.