‘Air’ Review: Ben Affleck Directs An A-List Ensemble In His Latest Film About How Air Jordans Sneakers Were Made And Popularized – SXSW
19.03.2023 - 10:17
/ deadline.com
Did you know that Michael Jordan makes $400 million a year and passive income due to the percentage he gets from selling Air Jordans? Understanding how this came to be we must travel back to the 1980s and famed sneaker label Nike, in Ben Affleck’s newest film Air. Written by Alex Convery, the movie stars Affleck, Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, Jason Bateman, and Julius Tennon.
Sonny Vaccaro (Damon) likes to gamble—which shows he likes to take risks. He works for Nike CEO Phil Knight (Affleck) in the company’s Basketball Division expert. He looks for up and coming b-ball plays and offers them shoe endorsement deals, and currently he has his eye on an 18-year-old Michael Jordan. Sonny thinks Jordan is worth the full price they’re offering ($250,000), and so does Vaccaro’s advisor Howard White (Tucker), but Knight, and VP of marketing Robert Strasser (Bateman), thinks it’s a liability to do so. He tries to get a meeting with Jordan by talking with his agent David Falk (Messina), but the athlete is more interested in signing with Adidas.
With no plans to give up, Vaccaro steps over the chain of command and flies to North Carolina to talk to Jordan’s parents Delores (Davis), and James (Tennon). With two shoe endorsement meetings coming up with Adidas, and Converse, Sonny asks his mother to reconsider talking to Nike, and warns her on what to expect when speaking to these companies. With the Nike CEO, Falk, and Strasser breathing down his neck to close the deal or lose his job, Vaccaro deploys clever maneuvering to secure the client, and stay employed.
In his fifth feature film, Affleck’s talents exceed expectations. He’s grown as an actor and director but is best when doing both. Not sure how he does