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Kelly CohenESPN
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, the Academy Award winners behind “Good Will Hunting,” are teaming up on a movie about Nike’s efforts to sign Michael Jordan on a sneaker deal, According to The Hollywood Reporter.
Former Nike CEO Sonny Vaccaro Appearing on 2015 ESPN 30 for 30 “The only man” Nike co-founder Phil Knight will be the film’s central characters.
According to reports, Damon will play Vaccaro, and Affleck will play Nate. Affleck and Damon won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for “Good Will Hunting,” and the two collaborated on and starred in the 2021 film The Last Duel. Affleck, who will direct the film, also won the Academy Award for Best Picture as a producer for “Argo.”
The film will focus on Nike’s efforts to sign Jordan in 1984 when Jordan was entering the NBA. After dropping out of North Carolina, Jordan was the No. 3 overall pick for the 1984 NBA Draft, and Vaccaro was able to do the impossible for what was, at the time, a small shoe company and keep Jordan away from Adidas, Reebok and Converse. In doing so, Vaccaro helped transform Nike, the relationship between an athlete and a brand, and the athletic shoe industry as a whole.
“Although I never imagined I would wear[Nike]shoes, the creativity it gave me and the education about what it is about — what I wear on my feet and how it enhances my athletic ability — I am happy with the choice,” Jordan said in 2004.
In 2021, Yahoo! Finance magazine reported that Jordan Brand, a subsidiary of Nike, It generated $5 billion in sales And in 2020 Forbes appreciates Nike has paid Jordan an estimated $1.3 billion since 1984.
Affleck and Damon come at the genesis of it all.
Vaccaro, now 82, helped make the athletic shoe industry what it is today by signing players like Jordan and Kobe Bryant to multi-million dollar shoe deals with Nike.
“I don’t think people understood how my career had developed,” Vaccaro told ESPN about “The Lonely Man” in 2015. “I wanted the public to know how marketing sneakers started. For better or worse, that’s what I am.” I don’t think people understood how my relationships with coaches developed and how I got involved with Nike. That’s how Jordan happened, that’s how Kobe happened.”
“The Lonely Man” was co-directed by John Weinbach, President of Skydance Sports. Weinbach was also a producer for the Emmy Award-winning ESPN series “The Last Dance” Which he did with Mandalay Pictures president Peter Guber, who will produce the upcoming movie. Now they will be collaborating again for another part of Jordan’s story.