Filmmaker-actor Ben Affleck’s untitled Nike drama has signed a powerful lineup of actors including Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker, Marlon Wayans, Chris Messina, Matthew Maher, Tom Papa and Julius Tennon, reports Deadline.
The film also stars Affleck alongside his fellow ‘Good Will Hunting’ star, Oscar winner Matt Damon. The sports marketing film will follow the incredible story of sneaker salesman Sonny Vaccaro (played by Damon) and how he led a fledgling running shoe company called Nike in its pursuit of the most transformative athlete in the history of sports: Michael Jordan.
As per Deadline, Affleck will be seen portraying Nike co-founder Phil Knight in the story surrounding Nike’s longshot effort to sign Jordan to its shoe company in the mid-’80s, an endorsement that seemed impossible at the time but which would become the most significant relationship between an athletic brand and an athlete and launched the global, multibillion-dollar contemporary sneaker industry.
Deadline added that Alex Convery penned the original script, titled ‘Air Jordan’, which was named to the 2021 Black List of the best unproduced screenplays.
The film will premiere on Prime Video; however, a release date has not been announced yet.
