From director Ben Affleck and writer Alex Convery, the Amazon Studios original movie AIR explores the story of how the mother of a basketball phenom on track to become the greatest of all time knew the worth of her son’s talent and forever changed the world of sports and contemporary culture. The uncompromising vision Deloris Jordan (Viola Davis) had for her rookie son Michael Jordan led to a partnership that developed into the Air Jordan brand, not only solidifying his place in history, but revolutionizing the sneaker industry and opening doors for future partnerships.

During this press conference to promote the new movie, Affleck (who plays Nike co-founder and chairman Phil Knight) was joined by Davis and Matt Damon (who plays shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro) to talk about how the story evolved, the experience of meeting with the GOAT himself, shifting the focus to Michael Jordan’s mother as Deloris’ role become apparent, what Michael Jordan insisted on being included, assembling a cast of top actors, how the real-life relationship between Davis and husband Julius Tennon (who plays Michael’s father, James) was reflected in the dynamic of Michael’s parents, implementing artist equity, and how this is a movie that has something for everyone.

Question: Ben, you directed this and brought your love of filmmaking and sports to this film, as well as your film family with Matt Damon. Why did you want to add so many layers for yourself and make things that much more complicated?

BEN AFFLECK: I can see how it would seem that way, but actually for me, it made it so much easier. This is a group of people who either I had known for a long, long time, had an enormous amount of respect and regard for, like Matt Maher, Chris Messina, Matt Damon, and Jason Bateman, all of whom I’ve worked with multiple times, know well, and adore and admire. And then, there were people who it had been my life’s goal to work with, like Viola Davis and Chris Tucker. Chris can attest the number of times I’ve harassed him. He’s passed me by in a hotel lobby and I’ve been like, “Chris, I wanna do a movie with you!” Finally, I think [Michael] Jordan brought him around, or the Jordan subject matter. He really came in and created this role. I said, “I need you, as a collaborator and filmmaker. I need your voice, your experience, your perspective. This movie is a massive failure, if it’s just my voice and my experience and my perspective.” Everything that everybody brought, all those things are invaluable to telling a story. It was actually like walking on air.

Ben Affleck as Phil Knight in AIR
Image via Amazon Studios

This cast feels like a coach having assembled a team of top players, and you brought in Viola Davis, at the request of Michael Jordan.

AFFLECK: I really didn’t understand the movie, until then. I went to speak to Michael because I’ve been lucky enough to run across him a few times. I’m not gonna act like me and him are friends. I idolize the guy. I’ve had a chance to spend time with him and it’s been very memorable for me, but he’s probably forgotten it. So, I had at least enough of an in to say, “Hey, can I come see you and run this past you.” To be honest, from a point of view of respect for him, his family, who he is, what he means, from a selfish point of view, for the movie, the stupidest thing in the world would be to go make a movie that involves him. He’s not in it and doesn’t appear in it, but nonetheless, it invokes his name and tells a part of his story, and I didn’t wanna do it if he was opposed to. If he had said, “Don’t do it,” I was gonna not do it. That would have been that, over, last conversation. And I was very, very prepared for that to be the result because I had no reason to think that he would be open to it, or that he would welcome it, particularly since it wasn’t the Michael Jordan story, where they had bought his rights. I thought it might be discomforting.

However, what I found was that he was very gracious. When I said, “Look, this is not historically accurate, in the sense that I can’t dot every I and cross every T, with what time every phone call was made. This is gonna have to be something of a fable, a parable, an inspiring story, so I’m gonna take liberties, in order to make it an hour and 30 or 40 minutes. But I don’t want to violate anything that’s fundamentally important or true to you. So, if you would, please tell me what those things are, and I promise you they’ll be sacrosanct.” I think it was telling that he wasn’t somebody who was like, “Well, you’ve gotta talk about when I did this and I did that,” and there are people who take that approach. He always talked about other people. He wanted to make sure that other people, who were meaningful, were included in the story. George Raveling was one of them, which is why Marlon [Wayans’] role is in the movie. I brought Marlon in and said, “Help me figure this out,” and we researched it. And then, he said, “Howard White is integral to this.” So, my first thought was, “Finally, I’m gonna maybe get Chris Tucker. I said, “What was your dad like?”

Initially, to be honest, I was gonna have it be a story about Michael, himself, saying, “This is what I’m worth, and this is what I deserve, and I’m going to ask for that.” His parents weren’t so much a part of the story, so I had to flesh that out. He said, “My dad had the best personality in the world,” and with Julius [Tennon], we got exactly the perfect person. I didn’t want to go to Portland. And then, he said, “I didn’t wanna go to Portland. I would have signed my shoe rights away for life, for a red Mercedes. My mom told me to go to.” When I saw how he talked about his mother, and the regard and the esteem in which he held her, this is a very intimidating, powerful man. Being around Michael Jordan is really like being on Olympus. You’re around somebody who is as close to a deity as you’re gonna find. And yet, there was this moment where I saw an awe, a reverence, a respect, an adoration and love, when he talked about his mother. It just shocked me. Shame on me for not assuming that was the case, but when I heard it, I realized, right away, that was the story.

It’s a beautiful story, and it’s a story about Deloris Jordan and what she means to Michael. She’s emblematic of what so many mothers must have meant to so many athletes and entertainers and people in this business, who are oftentimes very young and thrust into a world of fame and money, where that can be confusing. We see people take different roads, all the time. It must require an enormous amount of guidance. I thought, “Actually, this is brilliant. This is what the story is. This is beautiful. This is the protagonist. I said, offhandedly, which is always a mistake, “Who do you think should play your mom?” He said, “It has to be Viola Davis.” I was like, “Okay.” That’s like saying, “Can I get a basketball team together?” “Sure.” “It has to be Michael Jordan.” But then, I realized that’s very typical of who this guy is. It has to be the best. And so, I knew that it was incumbent on us to create a role that was worthy of Viola, and we tried to do that. Her saying yes was a lifelong career ambition of mine. I thought, “I really will have made it as a director, if I have Viola Davis in my movie.” When she said yes, I tried to believe it was me, but I think a lot of it had to do with me being like, “Michael Jordan wants you to play his mom.”

Viola, what was it like to find out that Michael Jordan wanted you to play his mom?

VIOLA DAVIS: It was flattering because I do go in with a sense of, Do I belong?, imposture syndrome, so it’s nice to feel wanted. But then, the next thought was, “Now I’ve gotta step into the role.” If you watch videos on Deloris Jordan, she is a study in zen neutrality. The woman is very, very steady and quiet. I would imagine that, even when she gets mad, she’s probably very steady. To really just envelop that spirit was a challenge for me. I’m the woman who always has a chip on her shoulder. I go in bombastic. So, it was both flattering and challenging, and then just a joy to work with Matt and Ben, and all these terrific actors that. Me and Julius still talk about it, to this day because it was one of the greatest experiences.

Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan, Michael Jordan's mother, in AIR
Image via Amazon Studios

Viola, what was it like to play the dynamic of this couple on screen, and to get to do that with your husband, Julius Tennon?

DAVIS: Let me tell you, that is our dynamic in real life. Julius has told me, since we got together, “V, now when you come home and it’s late at night, you make sure you don’t get out of that car until the gates close. And if someone’s following you, you lay on that horn, and I’m gonna come out with my baseball bat.” I laid on the horn once by accident, coming home at three o’clock in the morning. I counted to five and Julius came out with the baseball bat, and I knew. I was like, “That’s it. I’m gonna marry him.” That’s my dude.

Matt, what was it like to make Sonny Vaccaro such a lovable character? How did you approach him?

MATT DAMON: A lot of was there on the page, with what Alex wrote. We were really trying to capture the spirit of these people, in this time, more than anything, rather than exactly who said what, at exactly what moment. All these people on the Nike side, independent of one another, have talked about this time with such nostalgia, and that’s what we were trying to create. We wanted to remind people they were the underdog, which is such a weird way to think of Nike now. Before this incredible deal, they really were renegades and outsiders. That was really what we were trying to get. The characters all had this incredible infectious energy that I thought was really jumping off the page. The script was really quite something.

Viola, how was it to be directed by Ben Affleck?

DAVIS: The thing with Ben and Matt, but specifically Ben, is that you trust him. There are a lot of times you go on set and you don’t trust anyone because, truth be known, there are a lot of people in our profession who don’t know what they’re doing. And I’m not saying that from any place of condescension or giving anyone shade. Everyone sees a result of a movie or a career, but they don’t see the journey. It’s the journey and the process where you see the artistry of the people who actually know what they’re doing, who know how to piece it together, know what they want, know what they’re seeing in the camera, know what’s not working, and know how much or how little. I’ve had a 40-year career, and oftentimes, I’ve trusted certain people who have done me wrong. You don’t always see it. You do need help sometimes. I trusted [Ben]. I trusted what he saw. I trusted his process. I trusted his choice in actors, that they were gonna deliver. And then, you have to ultimately trust that he chose you for a reason. That’s the one thing that training school beats out of you, any sense of confidence and level of mental health. So, there was trust.

Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro in AIR
Image via Amazon Studios

Ben, how did you and Matt implement artist equity through your production company? Why was that important and how did that apply to this film?

AFFLECK: It’s interesting, the movie thematically paralleled the things we were trying to do and had missions for philosophically, which was that we wanted to raise money to create a mini studio. We anted to do, in some ways, what Nike wanted to do, which was to change the rules a little bit and change how the process was undergone. They ultimately fundamentally ended up changing the way compensation worked to afford more responsibility and also more reward to the people. We really firmly believe the artists behind the camera, who make a massive difference in the quality and cost and the experience of your movie, as well as the performers who I often feel are so meaningful, are not compensated appropriately.

We also wanted to try to eliminate waste and streamline the process, so that the important things are kept, and the stuff that has to do with ego and waste are left behind. It was a function both of my experience over the years of talking to other directors and going, “Why are we doing this? Do we need that?,” and values. It’s a very humble aspiration. We’re trying to change things a little bit, which is a very difficult thing because we have a model that we’ve inherited, in terms of how films are made, from the thirties and forties, with big cameras and slow film and lots of lights and a certain crew structure, and all kinds of ways in which ownership and compensation are set up.

I certainly don’t liken myself to the profound and significant way in which [the Nike] deal not only changed Michael’s life, but the had a ripple effect for hundreds of billions of dollars for athlete, down the way and down the line. I don’t believe it was yet even an equitable relationship, but it was a step in that direction. And we’re trying to take a similar step because that’s how you get the best work. If you spend more on better, gifted people, recognize them, value them, and value alternate voices and collaboration, then hopefully we can have a company that’s known for making original, interesting stories about people and what they say, and how they relate to one another and generate empathy, and we can be a supplier of films that people like.

Matt, what was it like to juggle the high priorities you had for this film, honoring the sports, honoring the artists that you brought along, and honoring Michael Jordan, and how you wanted to tell his story while also starring in it?

DAMON: It all started with the script, really, and that was down to Alex [Convery]. I just thought it was so great. I didn’t know the story. And then, it was step by step. The first step was getting the blessing of Michael Jordan. Before we got too excited, Ben said, “We should go see him.” My kids were up to something in New York and I couldn’t go, so Ben went to Florida to see Michael. Michael said, “It’s fine, if you make the movie. It’s okay with me.” And Ben said, “Well, what I really would love to know is what’s most important to you.” And it was out of that meeting that he said George Raveling and Howard White, and then he started to talk about his mom. Michael is a very intimidating guy. He’s an icon, and he’s all of these things, and he has all this meaning for all of us. But Ben said, “He had this look on his face when he spoke about his mom that I’d never seen before.” That was when we felt like we knew what the movie was. Ben said, “The only bad news is that we have to get Viola Davis. If we don’t get Viola Davis, we can’t make the movie.” That was when we started thinking about how to expand Deloris. One of the great things about this cast is that everybody is really a filmmaker. We really lean on our actors. Part of our process has always been, from Good Will Hunting until today, to lean into what our actors are bringing. The actor always is in the moment and always knows. We had these conversations with Viola that were like, “What do you feel like here?” That’s always the way to the best scene.

Ben Affleck directing AIR
Image via Amazon Studios

What would you say to folks who aren’t sure whether to see this film in theaters?

DAMON: If you don’t like Viola and me and Michael Jordan and Ben, then you probably shouldn’t go. No. I really do think there’s something for everybody in this one. It’s not a strictly sports movie. For the sports aficionado, they’ll love the behind the curtain type of stuff that’s in here. But it’s surprised a lot of people who weren’t expecting it. It sneaks up on you because of the role that Viola plays and how she takes over the movie. I do think there’s something for everybody in this one.

AIR is now playing in theaters.