Affleck reunites with Good Will Hunting collaborator Matt Damon in the new film…

In addition to reprising his role as the caped crusader for the upcoming DC epic, The Flash, as well as working on a wrestling movie with his wife Jenifer Lopez, Ben Affleck has been putting the finishing touches on his latest directorial effort, Air. Centred on the life of GOAT basketball player, Michael Jordan, the film 60-year-old’s career on and off the court and his eventual creation of the Air Jordan brand.

But get this, MJ himself won’t actually be portrayed on screen, with Affleck explaining, “Jordan is too big. 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. I thought if the audience brought everything they thought and remembered about him and what he meant to them to the movie and projected it onto the movie, it worked better.”

A controversial move to say the least, but it seems MJ himself approved it, with Affleck meeting with the Chicago Bulls alum prior to production commencing. He also let slip the demands Jordan had for the cast, one of which being that Air Jordan Vice President, Howard White, had to be in the film. It went so far as him stipulating the specific actress to play his mother, with his Airness stating that Suicide Squad star, Viola Davis, had to be the leading lady. It appears Affleck was ecstatic at the directive, stating, That’s like saying, ‘Can I play basketball on your court?’ ‘Yeah, if you get Michael Jordan'” while adding, “I always felt that if I was a director one day, and I had Viola Davis in a movie, that would really be something. That would mean the world to me. And it does.”

Affleck also touched on Jordan’s relationship with his mother and its importance in the upcoming film, adding, “It was the first time I saw this look cross his face… It was a look of reverence, awe, love, gratitude, and innocence. He said, ‘None of this would have ever happened without my mother.’”

Also starring in the film is Chris Tucker as Howard White, Matt Damon as Nike marketing exec Sonny Vaccaro, Marlon Wayans as MJ’s first basketball coach and Affleck himself as Nike co-founder, Phil Knight. All of the above are shown to be firing on all cylinders in the trailer for the film as they portray the colossal effort it took to turn the Air Jordan brand into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. It’s safe to say that with a cast like this, Air is sure to be a slam dunk. Or should we say, a swish? Okay, we’ll stop with the basketball puns now. For now, check out the full trailer for the film below.