AIR has been praised by audiences and critics alike, currently boasting a 92% “Certified Fresh” Tomatometer rating and a 98% verified audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and an “A” CinemaScore.
From award-winning director Ben Affleck, AIR reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand. This moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.
Matt Damon plays maverick Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro and Affleck plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight, with Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser, Chris Messina as David Falk, Matthew Maher as Peter Moore, Marlon Wayans as George Raveling, Chris Tucker as Howard White, Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan, and Gustaf Skarsgård as Horst Dassler, among others.
This marks the first time Ben Affleck has directed a feature film starring Matt Damon. With a script penned by Alex Convery, AIR is produced by David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, Jon Weinbach, Affleck, Damon, Madison Ainley, Jeff Robinov, Peter Guber, and Jason Michael Berman. Executive producers include Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Kevin Halloran, Michael Joe, Drew Vinton, John Graham, Peter E. Strauss, and Jordan Moldo.
The film’s unforgettable soundtrack of ‘80s hits—from Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, REO Speedwagon, The Clash, Night Ranger, Dire Straits, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Squeeze, and many more—is available now digitally by Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment.
For all the great filmmaking in Ben Affleck-directed ‘Air’ – from the exquisite tight shots and the deep dive into the zeitgeist of the 80s, as well as fantastic performances by Viola Davis and Chris Messina – there is something that is completely empty in the film that dramatizes probably one of the greatest sports deal in history. The movie is about the deal that partners up Nike with the basketball legend Michael Jordan. The 112-minute film is really just a pitch that a talent scout in the sports brand attempts to make with a very promising rookie back in 1984. The film benefits from everyone knowing the legacy of the legendary basketball player – even someone like me who is not familiar with basketball, even I know who Michael Jordan is – and are all aware of how much the sneaker industry makes a year.
Basically, we all come in knowing this is going to be a happy ending. So all the film has to do is to create the stakes and try to make it all fun to watch. Affleck goes full-on with his depiction of the 80s – the fashion, the production design, even the picture quality has that saturated 80s look – and it helps create that world. We are so steeped into it.
The story follows Matt Damon, who plays Sonny Vaccaro, who has to help Nike find an athlete to endorse their show, or they’ll have to close down their basketball division and focus just on their running shoes. In 1984, Nike was not the powerhouse that it was then and was only third to Adidas and Converse. They don’t have prime picks and Sonny must make magic or the whole division gets shut down.
Instead of spending their small budget on three mid-level players, Sonny insists on spending the whole budget on just one player: a rookie called Michael Jordan. And this is where the film fails to truly capture the imagination of the audience and proves that the film might be nothing more than an expensive, star-studded Nike commercial: the story, with a screenplay by Alex Convery, only creates one scene that shows us that Vaccaro has found THE player to endorse.
After watching one short clip from one of his games, Vaccaro is sure that Michael Jordan is going to be the greatest player ever. We know it. We saw it happen and it’s truly the stuff of legend. But the film relies on this and leaves the rest to our stock knowledge.
Sonny then spends the rest of the movie convincing everyone at Nike to put everything on this one rookie and then, later on, spends the second half convincing Jordan’s mother (played by a fantastic Viola Davis) that they should sign up with Nike. That’s it. That’s the whole movie – it’s a movie about a pitch, and a successful one at that – and while the movie tries to show us the stakes that was at play and the risk that so many people took – expressed beautifully in a scene between Damon’s Sonny Vaccaro and his co-worker Rob Strasser played by Jason Bateman – at the end of the day it’s a movie about a big million-dollar company making even more millions.
There is an attempt to put the importance in Michael Jordan’s legacy – that the deal Deloris Jordan, Michael Jordan’s mother, insists upon giving her son a huge amount of benefits that was unheard of at that period of time – but this doesn’t ring true because never once the film take the time to show us what a great player he is. We know it. The film knows we know it but by not giving any screen time to Jordan on the court everything becomes hearsay. Millions and millions of dollars and the jobs of so many people are at stake because this athlete is supposed to be worth it, and they never bother to show us this.
In fact, they never even show us Michael Jordan’s face. They get an actor, Damian Delano Young, to play the young Michael Jordan but they never show his face, shooting always at an off angle favoring Davis or Damon, and never letting him speak. If this story is about his greatness as an athlete, if the push was to show us that the skill and the promise of this young basketball player was enough to cause this much trouble, how come we never get to see him play or see his face?
No, what is given emphasis here is the money: how much were they willing to risk, and how much they were going to make. There’s no real character development here – Sonny Vaccaro, Rob Strasser, Deloris Jordan – they are exactly the same people when this movie started but they just ended up much richer. At the end of the film, they put down some facts about how much Air Jordans, the shoe that is at the center of the film, sold that year and the years to follow and how much Michael Jordan makes every year because of this deal – and it’s a lot – and, sure, it talks about how Deloris Jordan has opened up charities and gives back.
But it is a whole lot to do about money. They put so much emphasis on the possible loss of the basketball division but also mention that the company was already making so much in running shoes. They weren’t going to go bankrupt at all.
Yes, great performances – Viola Davis, Chris Messina, and even a wonderful cameo turn by Marlon Wayans – and some snappy dialogue and great camera work (though the music is so intrusive and overselling the 80s vibe way too much) but at the end of the day, it feels like a commercial or a product placement.
My Rating:
— Airis now showing in cinemas nationwide. Buy your tickets here
It was 1984 and Vaccaro, a basketball expert at Nike, hadn’t had much success recruiting top players to Nike’s basketball division. Converse had all but cornered the market with superstars like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Adidas, hyping its cool factor, was attracting the hot prospects from the draft, including the third pick – a guard out of the University of North Carolina named Michael Jordan. Putting his career on the line, Vaccaro decided to take the biggest gamble of his life. In an unprecedented move, he wanted Nike to create a shoe designed specifically for Jordan.
“It is an all-or-nothing gamble, but one in which he entirely believes because he absolutely knows and loves the game,” says Matt Damon, who plays Vaccaro in the film “AIR,” in cinemas April 19. “But he’s at a point where his career is in a precarious place and Nike’s entire basketball division is on the brink. He is risking all their jobs by pushing that agenda because he’s been told Jordan really wants to go with Adidas. Their shoes are cooler, and Nike is considered a jogging shoe company that Michael doesn’t associate with basketball. Nobody really does.
Watch the official trailer of “AIR”below:
“That was one of the things that was so surprising to me when I read the script,” Damon continues, “because I always had this idea of Nike as this absolute powerhouse in the basketball shoe market, which they are now. But when you catch them at the beginning of this story, they are the clear underdogs… One thing Sonny Vaccaro was very clear with me about was that the feelings of camaraderie, friendship and loyalty are his takeaways from that time. That’s what we wanted to put in the movie—a story about these underdogs doing something that had never been done before.”
Working with director Ben Affleck
Besides the inspiring story of “AIR,” Damon relished working with his longtime buddy Ben Affleck as his director. “Obviously, we’ve written and produced together over the years, but getting to work with him as a director was utter joy and so creatively rewarding,” shares Damon. “We tend to have similar sensibilities about what’s working in a scene and what isn’t, so we had such an ease with each other.”
Affleck also had only great things to say about his old pal. “He is very, very gifted and it was a pleasure to direct him for the first time and discover even more about him as an actor,” says Affleck about Damon. “I feel very lucky that my oldest friend and I are in the same line of work and get to work together. We’re doubly blessed in that way.”
The ticketing site for “AIR” is already live at www.airmovie.com.ph. Don’t forget to calendar your “AIR” movie date!
From award-winning director Ben Affleck and starring Matt Damon, “AIR” reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand.
“AIR” also stars Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, with Chris Tucker and Viola Davis in a moving story that follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.
Affleck directed from a screenplay by Alex Convery. “AIR” is produced by Peter Guber, Jason Michael Berman, David Ellison, Jeff Robinov, Madison Ainley, Damon and Affleck.
In Philippine cinemas April 19, “AIR” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company.
Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #AIRMovie
Ben Affleck’s latest directorial venture, “AIR,” is set to hit Philippine cinemas on April 19, and it’s a project that hits close to home for the passionate sports fan. The film showcases the undeniable impact of basketball legend Michael Jordan, not as a biopic, but as an influential presence that shaped the sports world and the rise of Nike’s Air Jordan brand.
For Ben Affleck, an avid sports fan, directing “AIR” was an honor. Plus, he got to work directly with the Greatest of All Time, Michael Jordan. In creating “AIR,” Affleck expressed his fascination with human excellence and genius, qualities he believes Michael Jordan embodies. He was determined to involve Jordan in the project, grateful for his insights and guidance throughout the filmmaking process.
“I really believe that human excellence is a beautiful thing,” says Affleck. “The concept of genius is one of the things that’s most fascinating to me, and Michael Jordan is nothing if not a genius.”
However, “AIR” is not Michael Jordan’s story, “but there is no story without him,” explains the director. “I would not have made this movie without first reaching out to him. And I’m grateful to Michael for sharing what was important to him. His presence and influence is felt throughout the film, though we don’t see his face. Because he is such an icon—an undisputedly important and meaningful figure, someone everyone holds in such high esteem—we didn’t want to shatter the illusion, but rather let the audience invoke their own memories and experiences of what Michael Jordan means.”
One key suggestion from Jordan was the casting of Academy Award®-winning actress Viola Davis to play his mother, Deloris. “It turns out that Michael is a genius casting director as well” Affleck laughs. Talking more about his meeting with the sports legend, the director shares, “He was gracious enough to sit down with me, and he had a couple of things that were important to him. Michael wanted to honor the contributions that people made, and he was quite adamant that Viola play his mother. I guess that’s very in keeping with Michael Jordan—to set the bar as absolutely high as possible and then expect to reach it.”
The Perfect Choice
Producers and screenwriter Alex Convery agreed that Affleck was the perfect choice to direct “AIR.” “Ben Affleck is whip-smart and a fantastic director,” producer Jon Weinbach, whose previous producing credits include “The Last Dance,” states. “This story clearly connected with him on multiple levels: as a legit sports fan, as a child of the ’80s, and as an astute interpreter of modern American history in films like ‘Argo.’ He also had the gravitas to elevate this story, attract an unbelievable cast, bring in some of the best professionals in the industry, and—perhaps most importantly—to approach Michael Jordan and get his thoughts on it. None of that was possible without Ben at the helm, and it was wildly exciting to see him make it all happen.” His love for sports, keen understanding of modern American history, and ability to attract a stellar cast made him the ideal candidate. His involvement was crucial in securing Michael Jordan’s input and bringing the story to life.
About “AIR”
“AIR” also stars Ben Affleck and boasts an impressive cast, including Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, Chris Tucker, and Viola Davis. “AIR” reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand.
Affleck directed from a screenplay by Alex Convery. “AIR” is produced by Peter Guber, Jason Michael Berman, David Ellison, Jeff Robinov, Madison Ainley, Damon and Affleck.
In Philippine cinemas April 19, “AIR” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company. Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #AIRMovie
From award-winning director Ben Affleck and starring Matt Damon, “AIR” reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand.
“AIR” also stars Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, with Chris Tucker and Viola Davis in a moving story that follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.
Affleck directed from a screenplay by Alex Convery. “AIR” is produced by Peter Guber, Jason Michael Berman, David Ellison, Jeff Robinov, Madison Ainley, Damon and Affleck.
In Philippine cinemas April 19, “AIR” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company.
Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #AIRMovie
The fans and critics have spoken. “AIR” is a real winner.
“AIR,” directed by Ben Affleck and featuring a star-studded cast led by Matt Damon, closed out the South by Southwest Festival to a wild standing ovation and rave reviews by critics.
Called a “slam dunk” by critics, it was also hailed as “this Generation’s ‘Jerry Maguire’” by Variety.
The film’s cast was also widely praised for their “powerful and award-winning performance” in what Indiewire called “ultimately one of the best sports movies ever made.”
“This is a movie that is made to inspire people, to make them feel good in a way that Michael Jordan is inspiring to the world,” said Affleck.
From award-winning director Ben Affleck and starring Matt Damon, “AIR” reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand.
“AIR” also stars Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, with Chris Tucker and Viola Davis in a moving story that follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.
Affleck directed from a screenplay by Alex Convery. “AIR” is produced by Peter Guber, Jason Michael Berman, David Ellison, Jeff Robinov, Madison Ainley, Damon and Affleck.
In Philippine cinemas April 19, “AIR” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company.”
Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #AIRMovie
“AIR,” directed by Ben Affleck, from Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports, Mandalay Pictures, and the first project from Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity, will receive a wide theatrical release in the Philippines through Warner Bros. Pictures starting April 19, 2023.
Watch the trailer of “AIR”below:
In a first of its kind arrangement, Warner Bros. Pictures is handling the international rollout of “AIR” as part of its distribution pact with Amazon’s MGM.
“Ben, Matt, and this all-star cast have delivered a fantastic film that will move, inspire, and entertain audiences around the globe,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon and MGM Studios. “With Ben’s incredible direction, the film delivers a nostalgic look back at a culture-defining moment that absolutely lends itself to a global theatrical event.”
Said director Ben Affleck: “Matt and I are very excited for audiences to see `AIR’ and proud that it’s the first release from Artists Equity. The movie was an extraordinary experience where we had the honor of working with some of the best cast and crew in the business, all of whom brought passion, persistence, and creativity to a collective effort at recreating a remarkable and aspirational story. I appreciate and value Jen Salke’s faith in our ability to execute on and deliver a movie we are proud of, as well as her and Sue Kroll’s incredible ongoing support of the film. Amazon Studios, Skydance,and Mandalay were all critical to getting this done, and the film couldn’t have been made without them. We value the steps it took on each of their parts to make it happen and want to thank them. This was the best creative and personal experience of our lives and we look forward to many more like it.”
From award-winning director Ben Affleck, “AIR” reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand. This moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.
Matt Damon plays maverick Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro and Affleck plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight with Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser, Chris Messina as David Falk, Matthew Maher as Peter Moore, Marlon Wayans as George Raveling, Chris Tucker as Howard White, Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan, Gustaf Skarsgård as Horst Dassler, and Julius Tennon as James Jordan – among others.
This marks the first time Affleck is directing a feature film starring Damon. With a script penned by Alex Convery, AIR is produced by David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, Jon Weinbach, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Madison Ainley, Jeff Robinov, Peter Guber, and Jason Michael Berman. Executive producers include Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Kevin Halloran, Michael Joe, Drew Vinton, John Graham, Peter E. Strauss, and Jordan Moldo.
Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #AIRMovie
Some icons are meant to fly. Watch the official trailer of AIR from director Ben Affleck and starring Matt Damon. Exclusively in cinemas across the Philippines starting April 19.
From award-winning director Ben Affleck and starring Matt Damon, “AIR” reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division, which revolutionized the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand.
“AIR” also stars Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, with Chris Tucker and Viola Davis in a moving story that follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.
Affleck directed from a screenplay by Alex Convery. “AIR” is produced by Peter Guber, Jason Michael Berman, David Ellison, Jeff Robinov, Madison Ainley, Damon and Affleck.
“AIR” will be distributed in the Philippines by Warner Bros. Pictures. Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #AIRMovie
