Sonny Vaccaro Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Ben Affleck has revealed that Michael Jordan had a number of demands when it came to making the forthcoming movie Air.Affleck has directed and starred in the film, which is based upon the story of Nike’s courting of the former NBA superstar to create the now iconic Air Jordan trainer. Air is set to be released next month with Matt Damon in the role of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, who spearheaded Nike‘s pursuit of Jordan.However, before cameras got rolling on the film, Affleck has revealed that approached the former basketball great to make sure he was happy with how the movie was set to play out. It turns out Jordan had a number of demands for Affleck, in return for his blessing – including a veto of who would play his beloved mother, Deloris.Speaking at the film’s premiere at the 2023 SXSW Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas, Affleck [as per Variety] said: “I had a chance to sit down with Michael Jordan, because I just wasn’t going to make this movie without asking him, ‘What matters to you?’ Interestingly, and tellingly, he had a few things that mattered.”One of Jordan’s demands was that the film feature Howard White, vice president of the Jordan brand and a Nike executive, who was not featured in the original script.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are teaming up once again for “Animals,” a new crime thriller that Netflix has just acquired.

Variety staffers reflected on some of the most standout scenes from the year’s top contenders. For 2023, there’s been no shortage of imaginative and inspiring storytelling crafted by both award-winning pros and newcomers — and each one has gifted audiences memorable scenes that have left us laughing, crying, and with plenty to think about long after the credits have rolled.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the year’s most talked-about scripts continues with first-timer Alex Convery’s screenplay for the Ben Affleck-directed Air. 

Air screenwriter Alex Convery and editor William Goldenberg represented the film at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles. The film tells the story of how Nike signed then-rookie Michael Jordan to the sneaker line that became Air Jordan. Even though Air Jordan is one of the most famous brands in the world, Convery said it remained suspenseful because Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) became such a strong character.

Matt Damon is still bitter about Donald Trump’s “Air”-inspired promotional video.

EXCLUSIVE: Sean Menard (299 Queen Street West) has been set to direct the docuseries The Sneaker Boom, on basketball shoe marketing of the ’90s, for RTG Features, the the sister studio to basketball-focused media company Slam. RTG Features CEO Aron Phillips is among the producers of the project, which Sean Menard Productions is co-producing.

McKinley Franklin editor Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production banner Artists Equity states that it “did not consent” to the use of a monologue from the film “Air” in a new campaign ad for Donald Trump. On Saturday, Trump shared a fundraising video on his Truth Social platform. The ad features footage and images of the former president throughout his life, accompanied by audio of Damon’s climactic monologue from the film “Air.” In the spring release, Damon’s Nike exec gives the speech to a young Michael Jordan to convince him to sign a sponsorship deal with the shoe company. “We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from ‘Air’ being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement or for any other use,” a spokesperson for Artists Equity told Variety on Sunday. “Specifically in terms of any and all rights available to us under U.S. copyright and intellectual property law, we hereby, expressly give notice that in the case of any use of material from ‘Air’ by the Trump campaign where approval or consent is required, we do not grant such consent.” 

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon would like to exit stage left from former President Trump's presidential campaign. In a statement given to Fox News Digital, a representative for Artists Equity, the production company founded by the two Massachusetts natives, condemned Trump's recent use of audio from their film "Air," which tells the story of the partnership between basketball great Michael Jordan and Nike.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon aren’t too happy right now after Donald Trump used an audio clip from their new movie to raise some cash for his presidential campaign!

Donald Trump’s use of a monologue from the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon film Air has been condemned in a statement from the production.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck‘s production company have called on the Trump campaign to stop using footage from their recent movie Air.It comes after Donald Trump posted a video yesterday (June 10) on his Truth Social platform that included a monologue from the Amazon Affleck directed movie in which Damon plays the Nike marketing and sales representative Sonny Vaccaro.“Money can buy you almost anything,” Damon can be heard saying in the video as footage of Trump is shown.

After 38 days in theateres, Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports, Mandalay Pictures, and Artists Equity’s Air will stream on Prime Video on May 12 in more than 240 countries.

Angelique Jackson It’s time to lace up your kicks: Ben Affleck’s “Air” will be available to stream on Prime Video beginning May 12. “Air” debuted April 5 on more than 3,500 screens, which marked an unprecedented theatrical release for Amazon, as the studio affirmed its billion-dollar commitment to making movies for the big screen. The film is produced by Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports, Mandalay Pictures, and is the inaugural project from Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity. Directed by Affleck, from a script by Alex Convery, “Air” tells the true story of how Nike’s basketball division signed then-NBA rookie Michael Jordan into a historic partnership that revolutionized the world of endorsement deals with the creation of the Air Jordan brand.

J. Kim Murphy Before “Air” could get the greenlight, director Ben Affleck needed one last seal of approval. With months of development already complete, the director flew out to meet with Michael Jordan, seeking his blessing for the film, which explores the NBA star’s landmark 1984 sponsorship deal with Nike and the origin of the Air Jordan line. For screenwriter Alex Convery, this was the most stressful 24 hours of his career. “Either this was going to get made and it would be my first produced movie, or it’s all going to fall apart. Back to square one,” Convery recalls in a conversation with Variety. “To really do this responsibly, you need Michael to say yes. Ben said it in the first meeting, ‘We will not do the movie if Michael doesn’t want to do it.’”

Todd Gilchrist editor Michael Jordan and his signature sneakers have been a fixture of pop culture since 1984, when Sonny Vaccaro convinced the then-rookie (and more importantly, his shrewd mother, Deloris) to sign an industry-changing endorsement deal with sportswear brand Nike. “Air” dramatizes many of the finer points of these real-life events, with Matt Damon playing Vaccaro, Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan and Ben Affleck pulling double duty as director and co-star. But the new film operates less as a tribute to consumerism than as an origin story of one exceptional athlete — and the leather-and-rubber vessel that has become synonymous with his legacy. “I wasn’t all that interested in the business minutiae in the story,” Affleck tells Variety. “It’s really a fable, inspired by these characters and who they represent.”

“Family First: Winning the Parenting Game.”Michael Jordan could soar through the air — but he could also hem pants, dust and cook. Life skills were “a result of such parental expectations,” she wrote. The mother of five, now 81, ran a tight ship.

Air, whether because of (it's her husband Ben Affleck's film), that Viola Davis play his mom in the movie, or from the countless promos on TV, social media, and just about everywhere. And I'll be honest, when I first heard about the story—about the game-changing partnership between a then rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division—I wasn't like, get me to the theater now.I love a good sports movie (The Natural, Field of Dreams, and Rocky among them), but growing up without a local NBA team or an obsession with Nike meant I wasn't totally sold. Still, I was interested enough that I made the trek to Amazon Studios for the press screening.

Ben Affleck steals the show at the “Air” red carpet.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor It’s been more than 25 years since Ben Affleck became the youngest Oscar winner for best original screenplay for “Good Will Hunting,” which he co-wrote and starred in with Matt Damon. Isn’t it time for a sequel? Not so much. Damon laughed when revealing that Affleck was recently approached for a follow-up movie. “Someone just tried to pitch Ben ‘Good Will Hunting 2,’” Damon told me Monday at the premiere of “Air” in Los Angeles. “I shit you not — that happened. He told me today. He was like, ‘You’re not going to believe what I heard.’ This was a flat-out sequel. I don’t get it.”

The “Air” premiere was a family affair.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck looked more loved-up than ever as they walked the red carpet at the “Air” premiere in Los Angeles on Monday night.

Matt Damon and his wife, Luciana Barroso, looked great on Monday at the premiere of his film,  at Regency Village Theatre in West Hollywood — but it was their daughters who stole the show.The 52-year-old actor and his wife of 17 years were joined by their three daughters, Isabella, 16, Gia, 14, and Stella, 12, who posed next to their parents on the red carpet. Damon recently co-founded a production company called Artists Equity with Ben Affleck, who also attended the premiere with his wife, Jennifer Lopez.Air, directed by Affleck, tells the story of the sneaker brand, Nike, and Air Jordan's rise to fame.The new film features an all-star cast, including Chris Tucker, Jason Bateman, and EGOT winner Viola Davis.Also at the premiere, Damon, Affleck, and Davis, all Oscar winners, posed together.The shoes — produced by American corporation Nike, Inc — were created for Hall of Fame former basketball player Michael Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls in 1984 and were released on April 1,1985.Although not directly involved with the film, Jordan met with Affleck prior to the start of production and gave the project his blessing. The casting of Davis was his idea.Damon plays sports executive Sonny Vaccaro, who is in charge of improving Nike's sales in their basketball division and works to sign rookie Jordan to a deal to wear their shoes.During the premiere, Damon jokingly spoke with ET's Kevin Frazier about his longstanding bitter rivalry with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who was also at the event.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez packed on the PDA at the red carpet premiere of his new film, Air, on Monday night. Ben and Jennifer, who rekindled their early 2000s romance and got married last year, attended the red carpet premiere for Ben's new sports film which he both directed and stars in.The couple were seen posing together, and put on some PDA for the cameras as they were seen holding each other close before kissing. Jennifer wore a long-sleeved Antonia Grimaldi dress which had a sheer white top covered in rhinestones with a neon green maxi skirt that perfectly hugged her around her hips and waist.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor As a director, Ben Affleck has proven himself to be a versatile, compelling talent, moving seamlessly from the morally complex “Gone Baby Gone” to the stark crime drama “The Town” to the tense and thrilling best picture winner “Argo.” Even Affleck’s one directorial misstep, the critically panned box office bomb “Live by Night,” has an intriguing gloss and conviction. That’s why it’s so difficult for many viewers to answer: “Which Affleck-directed joint is your favorite?” Well, that decision may get even harder with the arrival of “Air,” Affleck’s latest feature which premiered as the Closing Night film at the South by Southwest Film Festival earlier this month. 

Matt Damon couldn’t just pick one favourite thing about working with his longtime friend Ben Affleck as a director on their new film “Air”.

Viola Davis is opening up about her role in Air, as Michael Jordan‘s mom.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are opening up about their new movie, Air.

“Air” never quite does that — mostly due to choices in the script and direction — but it controls enough of the audience’s attention and provokes enough wonderment to deliver a solidly entertaining two hours.In 1984, Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) oversees scouting basketball talent for Nike sponsorship. At the time, the sneaker company was primarily known as shoes for runners with its basketball division dwindling.

Did you know that Michael Jordan makes $400 million a year and passive income due to the percentage he gets from selling Air Jordans? Understanding how this came to be we must travel back to the 1980s and famed sneaker label Nike, in Ben Affleck’s newest film Air. Written by Alex Convery, the movie stars Affleck, Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Chris Messina, Chris Tucker, Jason Bateman, and Julius Tennon.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Americans spend tens of billions of dollars on basketball sneakers every year. Sure, everybody needs shoes, but it shouldn’t matter if your choice bears the Nike swoosh, Adidas’ three stripes or the Converse star. In most cases, consumers aren’t simply buying footwear; they’re investing in the fantasy of walking in someone else’s shoes — a sports star or personal idol — of believing that switching one’s kicks has a direct impact on your potential for greatness. As the Nike marketing gurus in Ben Affleck’s “Air” put it, “A shoe is just a shoe until someone steps into.” If you’ve been alive on earth in the last 40 years, then you already know what happened when a rookie named Michael Jordan let Nike put his name and likeness on their shoes. But “Air” isn’t about convincing the greatest basketball player in the history of the game to sign with Nike, although a “Jerry Maguire”-desperate Matt Damon — as paunchy, flop-sweating Sonny Vaccaro — might trick you into thinking this is just the (admittedly very entertaining) anatomy of a landmark business deal.

Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Viola Davis and Chris Tucker scored an MVP standing ovation at South by Southwest on Saturday night with the closing night film “Air.” One year after “Everything Everywhere All at Once” debuted at SXSW on its way to seven Oscar wins, the Austin festival launched another major crowd pleaser. “Air,” directed by Affleck and written by Alex Convery, received not only rapturous applause when its credits rolled, but also sustained cheering throughout the inspirational film — particularly in scenes involving Davis as Deloris Jordan, negotiating with Nike’s Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) for her son’s worth.

Selome Hailu Ben Affleck says he never would have made “Air” without Michael Jordan’s blessing, but that blessing came with one major request. Her name? Viola Davis. Directed by Affleck, the movie stars Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, the Nike employee who convinced Jordan to sign the deal that allowed for the creation of the Air Jordan shoe line. Introducing “Air” at its South by Southwest world premiere, Affleck said, “I had a chance to sit down with Michael Jordan, because I just wasn’t going to make this movie without asking him, ‘What matters to you?’ Interestingly, and tellingly, he had a few things that mattered.”

The Ben Affleck-directed Nike film Air from Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports and Mandalay Pictures is set to close out the SXSW Film Festival in a surprise showing ahead of its global April 5th theatrical release, Deadline can confirm. The screening is expected to take place at Austin, TX’s Paramount Theatre at 6:30 p.m on March 18.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Nike drama “Air” is heading to Austin, Texas. The movie will screen to the public for the first time at SXSW as the festival’s closing night film on March 18. Currently on the SXSW website, there’s a TBA under the Closing Night Special Screening at Paramount Theatre at 6:30 p.m. Amazon is releasing “Air,” which centers on real-life Nike shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro and his pursuit of basketball phenom Michael Jordan, in theaters on April 5. According to the film’s logline, “this moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.”

Super Bowl trailer for “Air,” a film that tells the story of how a multibillion-dollar shoe empire was built around another legendary sports champion: Michael Jordan. “Air” is the latest film made by longtime partners Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, with both men starring and producing with Affleck directing.