Who plays who in Ben Affleck's Michael Jordan sports drama Air

Director Ben Affleck's '80s-set film Air recounts the genesis of the Air Jordan sports apparel line with Matt Damon playing Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro and Viola Davis portraying Michael Jordan's mother Deloris. But that's just the start of the film's dream team of actors. Read on to find out who's portraying the real-life players in Michael Jordan's story.

Ana Carballosa/Prime Video; David E. Klutho /Sports Illustrated/Getty Matt Damon in 'Air' and Sonny Vaccaro

Matt Damon is Sonny Vaccaro

Affleck's longtime friend and longtime collaborator plays Nike marketing executive and basketball guru Sonny Vaccaro, who convinced Nike to sign Jordan with an unprecedented Air Jordan-birthing deal before his NBA career had even tipped off. "The irony is...I don't know a damn thing about selling a shoe," Vaccaro told PBS in 2011. "But I honestly had this mind that could think of things that were never done before."

Ana Carballosa/Prime; Steve Kagan /Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Viola Davis in 'Air' and Deloris Jordan

Viola Davis is Deloris Jordan

Affleck cast the EGOT-winner as Jordan's mother Deloris at the insistence of the basketball superstar himself. "Michael Jordan was very adamant that the only person who was fit to play his mother was the best actor in the world — Viola Davis," Affleck told EW. "I was like, 'Well, okay... Mike, there's two lines in the script right now that the character has, so probably Viola's not going to respond to that.' But, really, what was so beautiful about that gift was that it inspired us to go, 'This is the central character, the protagonist, the hub of this wheel. We're going to build this story around this person.'"

AMAZON STUDIOS; Jamie Squire/Allsport Ben Affleck in 'Air' and Phil Knight

Ben Affleck is Phil Knight

The Air director plays Nike chief Phil Knight, who co-founded the company — originally called Blue Ribbon Sports — in the mid-'60s. Knight started off selling shoes from the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant, ultimately building the company into one of the world's most successful sports apparel brands. After finishing Air, Affleck showed the movie to Knight himself. "I flew up to Oregon, and then I went into the theater and all of a sudden I felt like the guy who'd been sent in to negotiate with ISIS," Affleck recently revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live. "Actually I have to say he was remarkably gracious...He seemed really moved by it. He said, 'Of course, you got a lot wrong.'"

Ana Carballosa/Prime; Kevin Clark/The Washington Post via Getty Chris Tucker in 'Air' and Howard H. White

Chris Tucker is Howard H. White

In his first big-screen appearance since 2016's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, the Rush Hour star plays Howard H. White, Nike's primary liaison with NBA stars including Jordan and Charles Barkley. Fortuitously for Tucker, the actor and standup comedian is a friend of White. "It was like kismet to me," Tucker told EW. "[Howard] had me talking to people [from] when he was 5 years old, these people he was hopscotching with in the street, and the coaches and teachers, up to Charles Barkley saying, 'Yo, yeah, he's my mentor. That guy like Confucius!'"

Ana Carballosa/Prime; Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Chris Messina in 'Air' and David Falk

Chris Messina is David Falk

Having previously worked with Affleck on both Argo and 2016's Live by Night, Messina did not need to read the Air script twice before agreeing to play Jordan's agent David Falk. In fact, he didn't even need to read it once. "When Ben calls you up and asks you to do something, and you get the cast list, you're like, 'I don't have to read it,'" the actor told EW. "This is the A-team in front of the camera and behind the camera. It was kind of like a family affair. It felt like you were just hanging out with friends, having fun, making a movie."

Ana Carballosa/Prime Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser in 'Air'

Jason Bateman is Rob Strasser

The Arrested Development star returns to the world of business as Nike VP of Marketing Rob Strasser (official photos of whom are not available), who played a vital role in making the deal with Jordan. "I absolutely fell in love with [Strasser] when he actually made the first presentation of the Jordan thing, the Air Jordan concept," Jordan said to USA Today.

Ana Carballosa/Prime; Bettmann Archive Marlon Wayans in 'Air' and George Raveling

Marlon Wayans is George Raveling

Affleck cast Wayans as basketball coach George Raveling, a mentor to Jordan, and encouraged him to improvise. "I mean, it's hard. I rarely stick to my own lines," Wayans told EW. "Like, seriously, there has been a time when I had a movie [and was] rewriting everything I wrote. So it felt good that that was welcome."

Ana Carballosa/Prime; Robert Mora/NBAE via Getty Julius Tennon in 'Air' and James Jordan

Julius Tennon is James Jordan

Deloris Jordan's husband, and Michael's father, is played by Davis' real-life spouse, whose previous credits include Dazed & Confused and the TV show Criminal Minds. "It was easy to step into these characters," Tennon told EW. "It was just a joy to work with Ben, and Matt, and the whole crew of these guys. The set was alive the whole time."

Prime; Focus on Sport via Getty Damian Delano Young in 'Air' and Michael Jordan

Damian Delano Young is Michael Jordan

Newcomer Young portrays the youthful Jordan, although Affleck routinely shies away from showing his face, when he features him at all. "Jordan is too big," Affleck told The Hollywood Reporter, explaining why he stayed away from foregrounding the sports star. "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."

Air is in theaters now.

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