Air Interview: Jason Bateman & Chris Messina on Working with Ben Affleck
46In director and producer Ben Affleck’s business biopic, Air, we go back to Nike’s humble beginnings before all-star Michael Jordan alley-ooped them to notoriety.
Before Nike was a top-tier sports brand, it was an underdog running shoe company looking for a break in the basketball space. In the mid-eighties, the company’s resident basketball expert and fan, Matt Damon’s Sonny Vaccaro, was enlisted by CEO, Phil Knight (Affleck), to bolster their basketball division. When things don't go as hoped and the division risks being shuttered, Vaccaro makes one last-ditch effort; he places his bets on rookie player, Michael Jordan. In order to lock the deal that could change everything, he'll have to give the pitch of his life to the young athlete along with Jordan's mother, Deloris, played by Viola Davis. While Vaccaro has Nike marketing executive Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman) by his side, Jordan's hot-headed agent, David Falk (Chris Messina), proves to be a challenging force to navigate.
Before checking out Amazon Studios’ Air in theaters on April 5th, find out what it was like on set in Perri Nemiroff's interview with Bateman and Messina, which you can watch in the video at the top of this article or read in transcript form below. During their conversation, Bateman offers a new perspective on Affleck as a director while Messina shares what it was like to reunite with Affleck after collaborating on Live by Night and Best Picture winner Argo. They also discuss navigating the “maze” of the film industry.
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