The Nike Michael Jordan Story
The Nike Michael Jordan Story – Sonny Vaccaro and Nike pursue basketball rookie Michael Jordan, creating a partnership that revolutionizes the world of sports and contemporary culture.
Whether you care about basketball, shoes, Michael Jordan, or only care about the star studded cast, there is something for everybody to like about this movie.
What could have been a boring expensive slog of ultra predictable storytelling was skillfully crafted into a fun, engaging story fit for any audience.
99% of people who see this will already know how it ends so it says a lot about the filmmaking and acting in this film that exceeds expectations.
Before signing Jordan, the shoe company held a meager 17 percent of the market – behind Adidas and Converse.
The only con is that you know how it ends.
The Nike Michael Jordan Story
Michael Jordan became a superstar and arguably the greatest basketball player in the history of the game.
And the Air Jordan, the shoe that gives the film its title, became the best-known and most-coveted sneaker of all time.
Follows the history of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan.
Sonny Vaccaro and Nike pursue basketball rookie Michael Jordan, creating a partnership that revolutionizes the world of sports and contemporary culture.
The year is 1984 (boy, is it ever—more on that in a minute), and Nike’s basketball division is an afterthought within the Oregon-based running shoe company.
Nike is also an also-ran among its competitors. Vaccaro, a doughy, middle-aged bulldog in various puddy-colored Members Only jackets, knows Jordan can change all that, and most “Air” consists of him convincing everyone around him of that notion.
That includes director of marketing Rob Strasser, player-turned-executive Howard White, Jordan’s swaggering agent, David Falk and finally, Jordan’s proud and protective mother, Deloris .
The Original Screenplay for the Nike Michael Jordan Story
The original screenplay was heavily rewritten by Ben Affleck & Matt Damon, making important changes that attracted the A-list cast to the project.
Affleck and Damon regularly collaborate as writers on films they star in together, like Good Will Hunting and The Last Duel.
They were not granted a writing credit by the WGA because the writers guild is especially stringent about awarding writing credit to a film’s director if the director did not originate the material.
Since Affleck & Damon are a writing team, this adversely affected Damon’s ability to get a writing credit too.
They both also produced the film as well as play lead roles.
The script was originally option by the independent film company Mandalay Pictures before it was set up with Affleck & Damon, who then attracted Amazon Studios and the all-star cast.
In Air, Affleck attaches himself to the sentimental, reaching for a narrative that recasts the deal between Jordan and Nike as the story of legendary Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) trying to win over the player’s mother, Deloris (Viola Davis).
That direction allows Affleck, who plays Nike CEO Phil Knight in the film, to organize Air around the broad, feel-good themes of a standard sports drama despite no on-the-court action.
The Nike Michael Jordan Story
Though Michael Jordan was not directly involved in the film, Ben Affleck consulted him numerous times to get details on how to accurately portray the story.
According to Affleck, Jordan’s only two requests were that Viola Davis play his mother and that his longtime friend Howard White be included in the film.
Affleck always wanted to work with Chris Tucker, so he was cast as White.
Tucker was also friends with White, and Affleck gave him a lot of flexibility for his performance.
Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, who play Michael Jordan’s parents, are married in real life.
Michael Jordan wore 2 numbers during his career – 45 & 23.
Air was released on 4/5/23.
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