When Ben Affleck met with Michael Jordan about Air, the director’s new film that highlights a key second within the basketball icon’s story, Jordan had one request. “Viola Davis. That’s my mother,” the filmmaker recalled to The Hollywood Reporter of what Jordan instructed him. 

Air, the story of how Michael Jordan’s household and a gaggle of executives at Nike revolutionized the enterprise with one historic sneaker deal, premiered Saturday on the South by Southwest movie pageant, forward of Amazon releasing it large theatrically April 5. Along with Davis as Michael Jordan’s mom, Deloris Jordan, the film additionally stars Matt Damon, Chris Tucker and Jason Bateman as execs at Nike, Affleck as Nike co-founder and former CEO Phil Knight and Davis’s real-life husband, Julius Tennon, as Jordan’s dad.

For Davis, who shot the film after finishing her grueling Girl King shoot, the character of Deloris was the draw.

“Moms are a very powerful figures in anyone’s life, so I used to be very flattered and deeply moved to be requested to play Michael’s mom,” Davis instructed THR. “I  know Michael Jordan however didn’t know that Deloris brokered this deal to get him an enormous stake within the shoe and in flip, protected her son’s legacy. I needed to know extra about this lady who had the energy and braveness to combat for her son’s value. For Deloris to have this perception and progressive imaginative and prescient, to face her floor within the negotiation room – which I do know will be the toughest a part of the job – makes her an unbelievable lady. That made me lean into this challenge.”

In an early model of the script, earlier than Affleck met with Jordan, the Deloris character was minimal, he mentioned. However sparked by Jordan’s enter—and boosted by the recommendation of Affleck’s spouse, Jennifer Lopez, the filmmaker started to see Deloris as the important thing to the story, and expanded the function.

One in every of Davis’s pivotal scenes is a cellphone name between Deloris and Damon’s character, Sonny Vaccaro, the Nike exec who’s attempting to signal her son to a contract. The scene is seven pages within the script, which Affleck shot with 4 cameras on every actor.

“I need to play the scene to allow them to stand up, they will do no matter they need, they will transfer round,” Affleck mentioned. “We did two takes and I mentioned, ‘That’s the perfect factor I’ve ever seen. I’m executed. If you wish to go once more, I’ll shoot all day.’ [Davis] went, she watched the playback. When she got here out, it was the primary time I noticed her smile and I simply felt like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was probably the most pretty, rewarding second.”