Photo by: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for SXSW
Everyone wants to be Mike, but what happens when he calls on you to play this significant role?
Actress Viola Davis has been hand-picked by Michael Jordan, the NBA legend himself to play his mother in the upcoming biopic entitled Air.
“You know, you’re flattered at first and then the next second is pressure,” Davis said. “[Pressure] to play the woman who basically is the orchestrator of this great athlete’s life, you know?”
The inspirational biopic Air, directed by Ben Affleck has every basketball fan and enthusiast in a frenzy. The standing ovation that the film received at SXSW, left fans intrigued as they saw Davis play Deloris Jordan, mother of a rookie Jordan (played by Damian Young), and bargained with Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro played by Matt Damon for the value of her son.
“There’s one line for the mother character in the movie at this point — and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, he wants me to offer this to Viola Davis. How am I going to offer Viola Davis a movie with one line? That’s not going to happen,’” Affleck said. “But he was like, ‘That’s my mom.’ He was dead serious. ‘Viola Davis, that’s my mom.’ And that was it. Discussion was over. However, it happened, it wasn’t his problem, but it was going to f—ing happen. And I was like, ‘OK, Mike.’”
Once the shock subsided, Davis claimed that her admiration for Jordan’s mother only rose as she immersed herself in the part.
“Obviously she was so influential and then I’m looking at videos of her and if you’ve ever seen videos of Deloris Jordan, she’s extraordinary, she really is,” Davis said. “Because she’s one of those, you know, she’s one of those people where you’re like, ‘Where did this talent come from? Where did this vision come from?’”
Air will reach theaters on Wednesday, April 5th.
We can’t wait to see Viola Davis and the rest of the cast on the big screen! Will you be supporting the film, let us know in the comment section.
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