Ben Affleck’s latest biographical sports drama, Air, was greeted with overwhelmingly positive responses and also marked a return to form for the actor-director, whose previous directorial effort in Live by Night seven years ago failed to impress both critics and audiences. Affleck brings out the best in his stellar cast including the actor himself as Nike CEO and co-founder, Phil Knight, and superb performances from Matt Damon to Chris Messina and Viola Davis.
The movie also gets an extra boost from Alex Convery’s engaging screenplay, combining whip-smart dialogue and an absorbing drama surrounding the history of Air Jordan basketball shoes and the landmark sponsorship deal between Nike and then-up-and-coming Michael Jordan. Below is the selected list of trivia and behind-the-scenes facts that you need to know about Air.
1. Air Marks A Departure For Actor-Director Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck made his directorial debut in the neo-noir thriller Gone Baby Gone back in 2007 and since then, he continues to explore the thriller genre in subsequent movies. This includes The Town, Argo, and Live by Night. His fifth directorial feature, Air, sees the actor-director move away from the comfort zone in favor of a fact-based sports drama for the first time.
2. Michael Jordan Insisted Viola Davis Play His Mom
A notable behind-the-scenes facts about Air is that Michael Jordan had a hand in selecting the actress who played his mom on screen. When Ben Affleck met Michael Jordan, he asked ‘Who would you like to play your mom?’. Jordan already had an ideal actress in mind, and he specifically wanted the iconic Viola Davis to portray his mom. Affleck granted his wish and the brilliant casting of Davis resulted in one of the best performances of her acting career.
3. Ben Affleck Made A Deliberate Choice Not To Show Michael Jordan
Air may have been about the classic Air Jordan shoes and the basketball legend himself. But for the latter, Ben Affleck took a creative risk by not showing the actor (Damian Young), who plays the young Michael Jordan in plain sight. Instead, viewers can only see him in an obscure manner such as from behind and even slightly offscreen. According to Affleck in a press statement, he explained that “Michael Jordan is so famous that I truly felt if we ever saw an actor playing it would be hard to get the audience to suspend their disbelief, because, in my opinion, there’s no convincing anybody that someone who isn’t Michael Jordan is Michael Jordan.”
4. Air Goes Fully Nostalgic With Classic 1980s Soundtrack
The story in Air takes place in 1984 and it’s natural that everything ’80s-related has to be prominent in the movie. So, Ben Affleck enlists award-winning music supervisor Andrea von Foerster to curate a perfect ‘80s playlist for the movie. The result ends up with not one but 23 songs used as needle drops throughout the movie. Among them includes Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing”, Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”, and Mike + The Mechanics’ “All I Need Is A Miracle”, just to name a few.
5. Chris Tucker Returns To Acting After A 7-Year Break
The last time Chris Tucker appeared in a movie was Ang Lee’s 2016 war drama Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk shot at an unusually high-frame rate of 120 frames per second. The actor would then take a seven-year hiatus, returning in Air as Howard White, a former NBA player-turned-vice president for Nike’s Jordan brand. It turns out that Tucker and White are friends, which prompted the actor to happily portray him in the movie.
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