Brother's pic wearing Air Jordan inspired Ben Affleck for 'AIR'

Mumbai, April 25 Actor-director Ben Affleck, who has helmed the biographical film 'AIR' in which he plays Philip Hampson Knight, an American billionaire business magnate who co-founded sports brands like Nike, has shared that his inspiration for the movie was a picture of his younger brother wearing Air Jordan sneakers.

The Air Jordan sneakers have become an iconic part of sneaker culture and basketball history since the 80s. 'AIR' gives an inside look into the creation of this iconic shoe and traverses its groundbreaking marketing strategies that transformed the way athletes are perceived.

Ben said, "I had a picture of my little brother wearing Air Jordan; it was the winter of 1985 or early '86. I remember how, seemingly overnight, Nike became what you had to have if you wanted to be cool. But I had no knowledge whatsoever of the backstory of the origin of these shoes."

He added, "It all started with the vision of one man, the conviction of his team, the faith and determination of one woman and the unparalleled talent of one extraordinary athlete. Together, they turned the once-generic basketball shoe into something forever iconic: The Air Jordan.

"We know that the shoe is not what made Michael (Jordan) great; rather his greatness is what made the shoe such a phenomenon. Sneaker culture is ascendant now, and AIR is about the inception of that, which I think will surprise a lot of people. That appealed to me."

'AIR' follows the game-changing partnership between a then rookie cager Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball division, which revolutionised the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand.

The film, which also stars Matt Damon as the maverick Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser, Chris Messina as David Falk, Chris Tucker as Howard White, and Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan, has been produced by Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports, and Mandalay Pictures.