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Set in 1984, Air casts Damon and Affleck as real-life Nike stalwarts Sonny Vaccaro and Phil Knight respectively. Facing a "tough year" in the sneaker business and looking to make the brand "cool" again, Vaccaro scouts the up-and-coming Jordan and makes his case directly to the young player's parents: Deloris Jordan (Davis) and the late James Jordan Sr. (Julius Tennon). Affleck's Knight is equally skeptical of Vaccaro's scheme to build an entire shoe line around a single rookie, but Vaccaro pushes ahead with his plan... and the rest is sneaker history.
Interestingly, Affleck seems to have opted against casting a big-name actor to play the young Michael Jordan — perhaps recognizing that there's no one who can compete with his Airness in terms of star power. Jordan is mostly absent from the trailer, seemingly glimpsed from the back in one scene where the Jordan family heads in to meet with Nike executives.
Damon as Sonny Vaccaro in Air. (Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios)
Damon and Affleck last collaborated on Ridley Scott's 2021 medieval drama, The Last Duel, which they co-wrote with Nicole Holofcener and also starred in. "We've been friends for 40 years," Damon told Yahoo Entertainment at the time, while addressing whether they've had their own creative duels over the years. "We've certainly been angry at each other. And, you know, writing, I mean you get very passionate. [But] these kinds of things diffuse really quickly."
If Affleck seemed like a sourpuss at the Grammys, he must be smiling after looking at the Twitter reaction to the Air trailer. Notably, his Phil Knight wig — a terrific accompaniment to his Last Duel blonde locks — is getting better reviews than Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
