The upcoming film "Air" will tell the story of Nike's pursuit of Michael Jordan, but the Chicago Bulls legend will be noticeably absent on-screen.
Ben Affleck, who directed "Air" and stars as Nike co-founder Phil Knight, explained the decision not to depict Jordan in the film in a recent interview with Rebecca Keegan of the Hollywood Reporter.
"Jordan is too big," Affleck said. "He exists above and around the story, but if you ever concretize him, if you ever say, 'Yes, that's Michael Jordan,' we know it's not, really. It's fake. I thought if the audience brought everything they thought and remembered about him and what he meant to them to the movie and projected it onto the movie, it worked better."
The film chronicles former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro's efforts to sign Jordan to an endorsement deal in the 1980s and the eventual creation of the Air Jordan line. Matt Damon plays Vaccaro.
While Jordan won't appear in the film, his mother, Deloris, is portrayed by Academy Award winner Viola Davis. Affleck said Jordan suggested Davis be cast for the role.
"(Jordan) looked at me real straight and - by the way, there's one line for the mother character in the movie at this point - and I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, he wants me to offer this to Viola Davis. How am I going to offer Viola Davis a movie with one line? That's not going to happen,'" Affleck recalled. "But he was like, 'That's my mom.' He was dead serious. 'Viola Davis, that's my mom.'"
"Air" hits theaters on April 5.
