Go Behind the Scenes of Ben Affleck’s Air With Details from the Global Press Conference

Ben Affleck is back in the director's chair once again for Air, the unbelievable true story of the deal between Nike's basketball division and Michael Jordan. We all know how it ended up with the Air Jordan revolutionising the world of sports and culture, but Air tells the story of the behind-the-scenes business that was going down that enabled us all to be wearing our Air Jordans.

Ben Affleck is on both directing and acting duties, and joining him in the all-star cast is Viola Davis, Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, Julius Tennon and Matthew Maher with the film written by Alex Convery. Last week FILMHOUNDS attended the global press and got to hear from the stacked cast and crew to find out a little bit more about the new film.

It's a big cast full of talented people and for a film like Air, it really is the people that make it what it is. Jason Bateman spoke about how the draw of the film for him was Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Whilst the subject matter was a big deal for people of his generation, it's the people that make the film. With the long days required, getting to work with good people was something that really appealed to him and drew him to the film in the first place.

Even for seasoned actor/director Ben Affleck, it's the same. “This is a group of people who either, I had known for a long long time and I had an enormous amount of respect for… or people who it had been my life's goal to work with like Viola Davis and Chris Tucker” said Affleck. Messina added that “when Ben calls you up, you don't even need to read the script”. It really feels like the cast got on with each other so well and that's reflected on screen.

“Ben and Matt, they're legends in their own right and when I heard they wanted to work with me, that's a good thing. It's a compliment. Ben didn't have to beg too much. I wanted to work with them” said Tucker on working with Affleck and Damon for the first time.

Affleck and Damon spoke about Michael Jordan and how gracious he was in letting them tell his story and taking creative liberties with the film to get it all into less than two hours. Matt Damon said “it all started with the script and that's all down to Alex [Convery]. I just thought it was so great and then it was step by step. The first step was getting the blessing of Michael Jordan. Before we got too excited Ben said we should go see him…Michael said it's fine if we make the movie but Ben said he really wanted to know what's most important to [Michael]”.

Affleck didn't want to violate anything that was true or that happened that Jordan wasn't happy with. Affleck said, “from a point of view of respect for him, who he is, what he means, and from a selfish point of view for the movie, the stupidest thing to do would be to make a movie that he doesn't appear in, that nonetheless invokes his name and tells a part of his story that he was opposed to. If he said don't do it, I would just not do it, and that would be that”. And Jordan always spoke up about other people and made sure that their stories got told and were a part of the film and so Affleck made sure to honour that.

In Air, Viola Davis plays Deloris Jordan, Michael's mother but she was quick to express how challenging this was for her. “To really envelope that spirit [of Deloris] was a challenge for me, I'm the woman who always has a chip on her shoulder. I go in bombastic. It was both flattering, challenging and then just a joy to work with Matt and Ben and all these terrific actors”. It was only after mentioning this that Damon revealed that he and Affleck had decided they “had to get Viola Davis” and that if they didn't get her they felt that they couldn't make the movie.

Julius Tennon spoke about how he approached the role of James Jordan and did so with subtlety and levity. Playing the father that's proud of his son and protective of his wife and understanding this character was something that Tennon was keen to tap into.

The film premiered at South By Southwest in Texas and Chris Messina said “it was amazing, it was like a rock concert. I've never experienced anything like it and I never will again”. Jason Bateman added “I had a blast” on the SXSW audience response.

Air releases in UK cinemas on Wednesday April 5^th.