If Michael Jordan asks, just do it

The character of Michael Jordan’s mom wasn’t a central part of the original script for the movie Air, which debuted in theaters across America yesterday. But that all changed when Ben Affleck met with Michael Jordan to get his blessing to make the film.

After Affleck pitched Jordan on the idea, a docudrama about the historic sneaker deal behind Air Jordans, he asked MJ for some stories about his dad. Affleck believed he was central to the storyline. But Jordan’s memories of that time were all about his mom, and he said there was only one woman who could play her: Viola Davis.

Jordan got his wish, and Affleck got his movie. Also starring Affleck’s long time collaborator Matt Damon, Chris Tucker, and Jason Bateman, Air will have a wide release in theaters before coming to Amazon Prime later this summer.

🎥 Zoom out: The film is the first release for Artists Equity, a company Affleck created with Damon in November of last year. Its mission, Affleck says, is to wrestle back some of the “backend participation” that ties someone’s salary to how well a film performs.

Rather than just giving equity to the director, actors, and producers, Affleck and Damon’s plan to share a project’s profits with anyone who makes a substantial contribution to the film – i.e., editors, costume designers, and cinematographers.

• With Air, the cinematographer, assistant director, editor, and production designer all shared the profits of the film’s sale to Amazon. According to Affleck, that makes them “the highest-paid crewpeople in history, by a multiple.”