Ben Affleck was 12 years old in 1984 and grew up in the Boston area. The Celtics were NBA champions. The Red Sox and Patriots were respectable. The Bruins were swept in the first round of the playoffs.
And that was also when Nike was betting much of its future on Michael Jordan.
Part of that story will be told in the upcoming film “Air,” which Affleck directed and stars in alongside Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Jason Bateman and more. Affleck plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight, and Damon plays then-Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, who was tasked with finding a way to save what was then the company’s fledgling basketball division.
Affleck did it with a key character absent: Jordan doesn’t appear in the movie.
“What I wanted to try to achieve was for Michael Jordan to have the effect on history that he has on the world, which is that obviously the vast majority of people don’t know and have never met Michael Jordan, and yet, they know about him, and they know what he wants to say and they could talk about him,” Affleck said. “So, in a way, it’s like a presence that is felt and discussed and everyone around it is there. But you never see his face.”
Nike ended up signing Jordan, who had yet to play in an NBA game, to a five-year, $2.5 million contract.
It was a great gamble.
Spoiler alert, with apologies for the movie coming out April 5th: It worked.
Jordan Brand generated $4.7 billion in revenue in 2021, the Jumpman logo is iconic, Nike has become one of the most powerful and recognizable companies in the world, and Jordan won six NBA championships, became a billionaire, and now He owns the Charlotte Hornets.
And since most viewers will already know all of those things, Affleck took on the challenge of telling the lesser-known parts of the story.
“The movie has to be realistic, it has to be authentic, and it has to surprise the audience,” Affleck said. “Because if what happens is something that the audience can predict, even if they like it, they accept it, it’s normal, it’s boring. It’s just not what I want to do.”
The trailer, released last week, has up to 6 million views. Affleck was at the All-Star Game weekend to help promote Friday’s celebrity game, and ads for the movie were displayed on giant scoreboards above the court.
Affleck said that he met with Jordan about the movie.
“Someone asked me what are you doing from Boston and making a movie about the guy from Chicago,” Affleck said in an interview with various media outlets. “Michael Jordan transcends, I think, rivalry.”