Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s sports biopic Air is making its world premiere at the ongoing SXSW film festival on closing night. The movie will take a bow on the festival’s closing night film on March 18, 6:30 p.m. at Paramount Theatre. Some of the cast are expected to be in attendance for the screening, though SXSW has not revealed who. Given this year's Academy Awards and nominations, the festival is turning out to be an Oscar launchpad, highlighting all kinds of movies from independent work to studio-backed projects.
The movie chronicles the origin of the Air Jordan shoe line and will follow a young Sonny Vaccaro, who pursues basketball rookie Michael Jordan. And thus creates a partnership that revolutionizes the world of sports, sneakers, and popular culture. Affleck directs from a script by Alex Convery as Damon steps into Vaccaro’s shoes. The script has been picked up from 2021’s Black List, which is an annual collection of the most-liked scripts in the industry that didn't get greenlit for production.
Who is Behind Air?
After two years of intense work, the makers seem to be ready to finally show the origins of the Air Jordan line and the partnership that has an impact on popular culture. The biopic marks Affleck’s return to the director’s chair after 2016’s Live by Night, while he also plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight. It reunites him with his fellow Oscar winner and friend Damon—the two won an Academy Award in 1998 for co-writing Good Will Hunting, which sees Damon in the titular role of a rebellious genius, Will Hunting. Affleck got his next Oscar for Best Picture in 2012 for Argo, which he directed and starred in.
The ensemble star cast of the movie features Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, Affleck as Phil Knight, Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser, Chris Messina as David Falk, Marlon Wayans as George Raveling, Chris Tucker as Howard White, Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan, Matthew Maher as Peter Moore, Tom Papa as Stu Inman, Julius Tennon as James R. Jordan Sr., Joel Gretsch as John O’Neil, Gustaf Skarsgård as Horst Dassler, Barbara Sukowa as Kathy Dassler, Jessica Green as Katrina Sainz, and Dan Bucatinsky as Richard.
Amazon is backing the project, however, before hitting the streaming service the movie will have a wide theatrical release. Damon and Affleck also produce alongside David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, Jon Weinbach, Madison Ainley, Jeff Robinov, Peter Guber, and Jason Michael Berman.
The biopic hits cinemas on April 5. After its theatrical release runs its course, the movie will be available to stream on Prime Video. You can check out the trailer and the SXSW poster for Air below:
