https://www.indiewire.com/2023/03/ben-affleck-air-nike-michael-jordan-approval-1234820793/
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Ben Affleck
Nathanred — 2 years ago(September 12, 2023 06:34 PM)
https://www.indiewire.com/2023/03/ben-affleck-air-nike-michael-jordan-approval-1234820793/
“Jordan is — he’s a hero to me,” Affleck said. “And I know how important and meaningful a figure he is, in particular in the African American community. If you’re going to **** around with talking about Michael Jordan, do it respectfully. Nobody’s asking you to do a hagiography, but get it ****ing right. I’ve never known anybody with that kind of charisma and power who walks into a room and it just reverberates. And is it him or is it the way people treat him? Is it your memories of him? I don’t know, but it’s powerful. I said, ‘Please, can I come out?’ And he was great. ‘Yeah, no problem. Come to the golf course.’”
While Affleck emphasized that his film was not designed as a definitive Michael Jordan biopic with the NBA legend’s full participation, he still says that his conversation with Jordan helped him find the direction of the movie.
“I have to be very clear, this is not the authorized Michael Jordan story,” he said. “This was me saying, ‘Mike, I’m not going to make the movie if you’re not cool with something about it. I just won’t do it. I want to know what’s important to you.’ He was very clear. He was the one who told me about [Nike executive] Howard White, who wasn’t in the original script, who’s played by Chris Tucker. And I said, ‘Any anecdotes about your dad?’ And without going into any more detail, he actually talked about his mom, who wasn’t really in the script. That’s when I understood what the movie was. Talking to him about his mom was incredibly moving, and I realized, ‘Oh, this isn’t about Nike.’”