Nike-Michael Jordan deal inspires Ben Affleck, Matt Damon's third collaboration
What's the story
After Good Will Hunting (1997) and The Last Duel (2021), actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are reuniting for their third movie. Touted as a sports marketing film, it will be on Nike and how the company cracked the deal to rope in basketball legend Michael Jordan as a brand endorser, thanks to Sonny Vaccarro. Damon will be essaying the role of Vaccarro.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Famously described as a "maverick sneaker salesman," Vaccarro pursued Jordan relentlessly in the 1980s and finally convinced him to be the face of their sneaker collection. Nike then officially came into the limelight. Vaccarro later moved to Adidas and Reebok before establishing ABCD Camp, a youth basketball camp, in 1984. He ran it till 2006. Even imagining Damon as Vaccarro is promising!
Information
Affleck, Damon's involvement with the project
The film will see Affleck playing Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike. The star will helm the upcoming movie, too, and this will be the first time he will direct his good friend, Damon. To note, Damon is also a producer of this film and has written the script along with Affleck. Affleck's last directorial was the box office bomb called Live by Night.
Details
Film will have appearances by Jordan's closest people
The Hollywood film will also introduce Jordan's parents to the audience. Jordan's mother, his advisers, former coaches, friends and other close people of the former basketball star will be seen, too. The original script, written by Alex Convery, was named as one of Hollywood's best-unproduced scripts by the 2021 Black List. Affleck and Damon are tweaking the same to suit the current audience's taste.
Project
Actors' last collaboration failed commercially
The upcoming film is being produced by Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports, and Mandalay Pictures. Affleck and Damon's last film together The Last Duel received positive responses from critics but failed to mint money upon release. Apart from this, Affleck will be seen as Batman in DC's next film The Flash. On the other hand, Damon will appear in Christopher Nolan's film Oppenheimer.