With ‘Air,’ Affleck Tells Lesser-Known Michael Jordan Story

Actor, writer and director Ben Affleck addresses the media regarding his new Michael Jordon movie "Air" at an NBA basketball All-Star event Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP)
Actor, writer and director Ben Affleck addresses the media regarding his new Michael Jordon movie "Air" at an NBA basketball All-Star event Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP)
TT
20

With ‘Air,’ Affleck Tells Lesser-Known Michael Jordan Story

Actor, writer and director Ben Affleck addresses the media regarding his new Michael Jordon movie "Air" at an NBA basketball All-Star event Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP)
Actor, writer and director Ben Affleck addresses the media regarding his new Michael Jordon movie "Air" at an NBA basketball All-Star event Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (AP)

Ben Affleck was 12 years old in 1984 and growing up in the Boston area. The Celtics were NBA champions. The Red Sox and Patriots were respectable. The Bruins got swept in the first round of the playoffs.

And that also was when Nike was betting much of its future on Michael Jordan.

Part of that tale 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 of saving what was then the company’s fledgling basketball division.

Affleck did it with one key character absent: Jordan is not shown in the movie.

“What I wanted to try to accomplish was to have Michael Jordan have the effect in the story that he has in 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 means and they might talk about him,” Affleck said.

“So, in a way, he’s like a presence that’s felt and discussed and everybody else around him is there. But you never see his face.”

Nike wound up signing Jordan — who had yet to play an NBA game — to a $2.5 million, five-year deal.

It was a huge gamble.

Spoiler alert, with apologies to the movie that gets released April 5: It worked out.

Jordan Brand generated $4.7 billion in revenue in 2021, the Jumpman logo is iconic, Nike has become one of the world’s most powerful and recognizable companies, and Jordan won six NBA championships, became a billionaire, and now owns the Charlotte Hornets.

And since most viewers will already know all those things, Affleck took on the challenge of telling lesser-known parts of the story.

“The movie has to do realistic, it has to do 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 go along with it, it’s ordinary, it’s boring. It’s just not what I want to do.”

The trailer, released last week, is up to 6 million views. Affleck was at All-Star weekend to help promote Friday’s celebrity game, and ads for the film were shown on the jumbo scoreboards over the court.

Affleck said he has met with Jordan about the movie.

“Somebody asked me what you’re doing from Boston and making a movie about the Chicago guy,” Affleck said in an interview with a number of media outlets. “Michael Jordan sort of transcends, I think, rivalry.”



Unreleased Beyonce Music Stolen From Car in Atlanta

FILE - Beyonce, left, accepts the Innovator Award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - Beyonce, left, accepts the Innovator Award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
TT
20

Unreleased Beyonce Music Stolen From Car in Atlanta

FILE - Beyonce, left, accepts the Innovator Award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - Beyonce, left, accepts the Innovator Award during the iHeartRadio Music Awards, April 1, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Computer drives containing unreleased music by US superstar Beyonce and plans related to her concerts were stolen last week in Atlanta, police said Monday, with a suspect still at large.

The items were stolen from a rental car used by Beyonce's choreographer and a dancer on July 8, two days before the pop icon kicked off the Atlanta leg of her "Cowboy Carter" tour, a police incident report said, according to AFP.

Choreographer Christopher Grant, 37, told police that he returned to the car to find its rear-window smashed and their luggage stolen.

Inside were multiple jump drives that "contained water marked music, some un-released music, footage plans for the show, and past and future set list (sic)," the report said.

Also missing were an Apple MacBook, headphones and several items of luxury clothing.

Police investigated an area where the MacBook and headphones had pinged their location, but the report did not mention any items being recovered.

Atlanta Police said in an online statement that a warrant had been issued for an unnamed suspect's arrest, but that the suspect remained at large.

The "Cowboy Carter" tour kicked off in April after the global superstar took home her first "Album of the Year" Grammy for the 2024 album.

The sweeping country-themed work saw Beyonce stake out musical territory in a different genre from much of her previous discography.

The ambitious, historically rooted album also aimed to elevate and showcase the work of other Black artists in country music, whose rich contributions the industry has repeatedly sidelined.

As her stadium tour to promote the album winds down, Beyonce ended her four-night stint in Atlanta on Monday, with two final performances set for late July in Las Vegas.