EXCLUSIVE: Jessica Green (The Outpost) is the latest addition to the cast of Ben Affleck’s Nike drama for Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports and Mandalay Pictures, in which Affleck will star opposite his Good Will Hunting collaborator Matt Damon.The untitled sports marketing pic has Damon playing maverick sneaker salesman and former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, with Affleck as Nike co-founder Phil Knight, in a story about Nike’s long-shot effort to sign Michael Jordan to its shoe company in the mid-’80s.
It was an endorsement that seemed impossible at the time, but would become the most significant relationship between an athletic brand and an athlete ever, and launched the global, multibillion-dollar contemporary sneaker industry.
Pic’s ensemble will also include Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker, Marlon Wayans, Matthew Maher, Chris Messina, Tom Papa, Julius Tennon, Joel Gretsch and Gustaf Skarsgård, as previously announced.Green will play Katrina Sainz, the diligent secretary to Damon’s Vaccaro.Alex Convery wrote the original script, titled Air Jordan, which was named to the 2021 Black List of the best unproduced screenplays.
Mandalay brought it to Skydance Sports President Jon Weinbach, who then secured Vaccarro’s life rights. Affleck and Damon did a subsequent pass on the script and are producing alongside Peter Guber, Jason Michael Berman, Jeff Robinov, Madison Ainley and David Ellison.
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