Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, and Marlon Wayans join Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Nike film
The still-untitled project will follow Michael Jordan's game-changing '80s Nike contract
A host of new stars have signed on to Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s movie chronicling the formation of Michael Jordan’s contract with Nike in ‘80s—the business partnership that brought the world the Air Jordan.
Viola Davis, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, and Marlon Wayans have all joined the cast of the still-untitled Prime Video film, Variety reports. The new actors will join previously confirmed cast members Affleck, Damon, Matthew Maher, Chris Messina, Tom Papa, and Julius Tennon.
Directed by Affleck, the film follows sneaker salesman and former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro (Damon) as he and Nike co-founder Phil Knight (Affleck) attempt to win an endorsement from the greatest basketball player in the world at the time: Michael Jordan. The business deal that created Nike’s iconic Jumpman and wings logos ushered in a new world of athlete-brand partnerships, and jumpstarted the lucrative sneaker industry.
Per Variety, Davis will play Jordan’s mother Deloris, a guiding figure for him while the Nike deal was still in process.
Bateman joins the cast as Rob Strasser, a Nike executive who oversees Sonny, as well as Nike’s overall marketing and messaging.
Tucker plays Howard White, a junior executive at Nike who, after playing college ball at the University of Maryland, served as the main point of contact for the roster of NBA players Nike kept in connection in the early days.
And, Wayans will play George Raveling, the first Black college basketball coach in both the ACC and PAC 10 conferences. Raveling grew close with Jordan as an assistant coach on the 1984 U.S. Mens Olympic Basketball Team, which went on to win gold. Raveling has also been credited with first turning Jordan on to the idea of a contract with Nike.
Though the project has yet to receive an official release date, principal production reportedly began recently in Los Angeles. The project will be Damon and Affleck’s third screenplay together, after previously collaborating on The Last Duel and, of course, Good Will Hunting.