On the surface, “Air” might be about the making of a shoe line. For the film’s stars, it’s really about the people who created it. Portraying the Nike employees behind the…
On the surface, “Air” might be about the making of a shoe line. For the film’s stars, it’s really about the people who created it.
Portraying the Nike employees behind the iconic Air Jordan was the focus of a Variety streaming room presented by Amazon MGM Studios. In a Q&A moderated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis, the star-studded cast of “Air” sat down to discuss their characters.
Panelists included Marlon Wayans, who stars as Nike basketball sports marketing director George Raveling; Jason Bateman, who plays Nike executive Rob Strasser; Julius Tennon, who plays Michael Jordan’s father James Jordan; Viola Davis, who plays Michael Jordan’s mother Deloris Jordan; and Ben Affleck, who plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight. Affleck also served as director and producer on the film.
“What I was interested in doing initially was really trying to make a movie about people who were having conversations with one another and what they thought and felt. Those were the kinds of movies that I’m most drawn to,” said Affleck of conceptualizing the story and characters.
“I wanted to do that and really hold the audiences’ interest and make a movie that would inspire and move and cause people to think. But I just knew that in order to do that it has to be, it has got to be, so expertly, brilliantly populated with the best actors possible and I got them. So I’m really lucky,” Affleck praised.
The idea of acknowledging the individual’s legacy was crucial for Davis. Asked about interpreting the identity of Deloris Jordan, Davis replied, “I wasn’t playing the mother of the greatest basketball player that ever lived. I was just playing a mother.”
“What’s important in our community, the African American community — and I’m looking at Deloris who was born just around the same time as my mom actually, maybe she may be a little older than my mom — and with that entire generation of African Americans, their children were their dreams,” continued Davis. “In the absence of opportunity, access to opportunity, coming from, I don’t know, Jim Crow, whatever, what happens is your children become the people who take the baton and can run it to a place that literally fits into and encapsulates that promise we had of the American Dream.”
For Tennon, immersing himself in the parental emotions of the character felt natural and authentic to his acting process.
“You could take any father that’s got a son that’s on the cusp of potential greatness. Any, any father would be proud and support his wife. And so I just looked at [James Jordan’s] humanity and then I just wanted to be in the scenes. And that’s what Ben so expertly did with us. He allowed us to play. He allowed us to be,” Tennon said.
When it comes to playing a real-life individual, Wayans sees it as a balance of paying homage to the person while simultaneously framing the character in a way that centers the actor.
“I like to do extensive research on my character. If you’re playing someone you wanna do them justice … but you gotta bring you to a character and bring them together,” Wayans explained. “I didn’t want to do an impression. I wanted to bring me to [George Raveling].”
Bateman enjoyed his character’s arc — specifically being a figure of opposition before coming around to the film’s core arc.
“I like playing characters like that … they have a plan and then their heart gets in the way and it sort of merges with what the audience is onto,” said Bateman. “It was a really, really pleasurable experience doing this film.”
Wearing multiple hats on the film as director, producer and star may not have been easy, but Affleck took what he learned from previous sets and brought it to the production of “Air.”
“We’ve been on so many sets where it’s just twice as hard to do your job because the paradox of acting is that before you can even do anything that you want to do, you’ve gotta find a way to just relax, just to be comfortable,” Affleck explained, noting the nervousness that comes with being on camera.
As director, he wanted to ensure that being on set was a positive experience for everyone involved. That came with placing his trust in both the cast and the crew members.
“The actors have to understand that you respect them and that you know what’s good and you’re gonna use it,” he added. “There was so much richness in all of these characters. I just wanted everyone to feel comfortable … the key to directing is take advantage of the people who are better and smarter and can do the job better than you and let them do it.”
