Ben Affleck's 'Air' to take direct-to-digital route for India release

MUMBAI: The Ben Affleck directorial 'Air' brings to light the game-changing partnership between a then rookie Michael Jordan and Nike's fledgling basketball division which revolutionised the world of sports and contemporary culture with the Air Jordan brand. The film is set to have a direct-to-digital release in India.

The moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional team with everything on the line, the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son's immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.

The film sees Matt Damon playing the maverick Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro and Affleck stepping into the shoes of Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

Talking about the film, Ben Affleck said: "Matt and I are very excited for audiences to see Air and proud that it's the first release from Artists Equity.

The movie was an extraordinary experience where we had the honour of working with some of the best cast and crew in the business, all of whom brought passion, persistence, and creativity to a collective effort at recreating a remarkable and aspirational story."

The film also stars Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser, Chris Messina as David Falk, Matthew Maher as Peter Moore, Marlon Wayans as George Raveling, Chris Tucker as Howard White, Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan, Gustaf Skarsgard as Horst Dassler, and Julius Tennon as James Jordan.

Affleck further mentioned: "I appreciate and value Jen Salke's faith in our ability to execute on and deliver a movie we are proud of, as well as her and Sue Kroll's incredible ongoing support of the film.

Amazon Studios, Skydance, and Mandalay were all critical to getting this done, and the film couldn't have been made without them. We value the steps it took on each of their parts to make it happen and want to thank them.

This was the best creative and personal experience of our lives and we look forward to many more like it."

This marks the first time Affleck is directing a feature film starring Damon.

With a script penned by Alex Convery, Air is produced by David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, Jon Weinbach, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Madison Ainley, Jeff Robinov, Peter Guber, and Jason Michael Berman. The film will release this year on Prime Video.