Ben Affleck Compares Golf to Meth, Remembers Approaching Michael Jordan About Nike Film ‘Air’

In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor-director recalled approaching Jordan about his upcoming movie “Air,” which tells the story of the “game-changing partnership” between the NBA icon and Nike, and the creation of the sneakers, Air Jordans.

Affleck, 50, stated he reached out to Jordan, 60, who invited him out to a golf course. Nevertheless, he admitted that he did not take part on enjoying a spherical of golf with the previous skilled athlete as he believes the game is “like meth.”

“I stated, ‘Please, can I come out?’ And he was nice,'” Affleck instructed THR. “[He said], ‘Yeah, no downside. Come to the golf course.’ Went out, met with him. I waited for him to complete enjoying. I do not golf myself. As a result of I simply really feel prefer it eats folks’s lives up.”

“I have a look at golf like meth,” he defined as he elaborated additional on his ideas on the game. “They’ve higher tooth, nevertheless it doesn’t look like folks ever come out of that. As soon as they begin {golfing}, you simply do not ever see them once more.”

The “Good Will Searching” star went on to share extra particulars from the dialog, additionally clarifying that “Air” is “not the approved Michael Jordan story.”

“He was not compensated in a method that will be applicable if this had been that,” Affleck stated. “If you are going to do a Michael Jordan story, they need to again the f—ing truck up. This was me saying, ‘Mike, I am not going to make the film in case you’re not cool with one thing about it. I simply will not do it. I wish to know what’s essential to you.'”

In the meantime, the Oscar winner revealed that he and Jordan knew one another beforehand, noting that they’ve “mutual pals” and “periodically play playing cards” collectively.

“None of it sounds good, OK? And it isn’t like he’d be like, ‘Oh yeah, Ben’s my boy,'” Affleck shared. “He’d be like, ‘Yeah, I do know him.'”

“Jordan is — he is a hero to me. And I understand how essential and significant a determine he’s, particularly within the African American group,” he continued. “If you are going to f— round with speaking about Michael Jordan, do it respectfully. No one’s asking you to do a hagiography, however get it f—ing proper. I’ve by no means recognized anyone with that form of charisma and energy who walks right into a room and it simply reverberates. And is it him or is it the way in which folks deal with him? Is it your reminiscences of him? I do not know, nevertheless it’s highly effective.”

In keeping with Amazon, “Air,” which is directed by Affleck, “reveals the unbelievable game-changing partnership between a then-rookie Michael Jordan and Nike’s fledgling basketball division which revolutionized the world of sports activities and modern tradition with the Air Jordan model.”

The synopsis provides, “This shifting story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional staff with every little thing on the road, the uncompromising imaginative and prescient of a mom who is aware of the value of her son’s immense expertise, and the basketball phenom who would develop into the best of all time.”

Damon stars as Nike government Sonny Vacarro, whereas Affleck portrays Nike co-founder Phil Knight. Viola Davis performs Jordan’s mom, Deloris, within the movie.

“Air” marks Affleck and Damon’s ninth movie collectively, and the primary time the previous has directed the latter in a challenge.

The film additionally stars Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, Chris Tucker, Jay Mohr, and Julius Tennon, who’s married to Davis in actual life and stars as her husband and Jordan’s father, James Jordan, within the movie.

“Air” shoots into theaters on April 5, earlier than it can later land on Prime Video.