The upcoming movie “Air” (2023) will tell the true story of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) and how he convinced Nike to work with one of the greatest athletes of all time — Michael Jordan.
Alongside Damon, the film will also star Ben Affleck as Phil Knight, Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan, Chris Tucker as Howard White, and Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser.
When promoting the new film, Chris Tucker appeared on “Good Morning America” where he admitted there wasn’t a script for him and he “basically wrote his own part” for the film.
Chris Tucker Talks ‘Air’
“Air” is Tucker’s first movie in seven years, but the transition of getting back into acting was an easy one considering the role Tucker is playing is actually a good friend of his.
“Ben Affleck over the years was sayin’ ‘Man, I want to work with you’ and you know how in Hollywood you think ‘okay he’s just talking’ but he called my people and they said ‘we have this part for you, but it ain’t much, but it’s about this guy Howard White’ and I was like ‘Woah wait a minute, I know Howard White’,” he told “Good Morning America”.
“So I called Howard and he told me he knew about the part,” Tucker continued. “He was so helpful with helping me doing all the research. He had me talking to people [who he knew] when he was five years old doing hopscotch in the neighborhood — coaches and teachers and I really got a lot of information and a lot of stuff that I put together to embody his spirit because the role wasn’t there.”
The 51-year-old comedian went on to explain how when making the movie, Ben Affleck went to talk to Michael Jordan one-on-one to not only get his blessing but to ask if there were any specifics he wanted to see within the film to which Jordan said two things — the first, he wanted Viola Davis to play his mom in the movie and the second, he wanted Howard White in the film.
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“So that’s how my role came about,” Tucker told the “Good Morning America” hosts, “so I basically wrote my own part in the movie.”
Ben Affleck Hopes Michael Jordan Approves Of ‘Air’
Although Ben Affleck flew to Florida to speak with Michael Jordan when making the movie, the “Good Will Hunting” actor still hopes the iconic basketball player approves of the film and enjoys the outcome.
“I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable with promoting the movie any further by assigning Michael’s vote of approval to it,” Affleck told Reuters. “I will tell you that every step was taken along the way to make sure that he had every option available to him because of the respect that we have for him.”
“Air” marks the first film from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s new production company, Artists Equity, and although there are many roles within the movie, there is one iconic role they did not fill — Michael Jordan’s.
“The second you put the camera on an actor and say ‘Hey, it’s Michael Jordan’ and it’s not Michael Jordan, you’re going to lose the audience, so we knew. Michael’s just too famous and means too much to people to try to have someone else play him in a movie,” Damon said.
Rather than having an actor attempt to fill Jordan’s shoes, the upcoming movie will show small clips of the athlete, still incorporating him into the movie.
