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Joe Mazzulla’s love of “The Town” has landed him on “Jeopardy!” as a clue. During Tuesday’s episode of the longtime trivia game show, Mazzulla was mentioned as a hint for a question under the “Heist Movies” category. The clue read: “Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has admitted to watching this heist film directed by Ben Affleck several times a week.”
As was first reported in January, Joe Mazzulla screens the 2010 Ben Affleck crime drama The Town, which has a runtime of two hours and four minutes, four times a week. When asked how that relates to the Celtics, he said that it’s “just a Boston mindset.”
Michael Jordan had only a couple demands when he was approached by Ben Affleck about Air, the new bio-dramedy he directed and costars in that follows Nike’s Herculean efforts to sign the NBA draftee to what would prove to be a game-changing sneaker endorsement deal in 1984. The most publicized of those: The Chicago Bulls legend wanted Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis to play his mother, Deloris.
Beyond that, “I don’t wanna make too much out of it,” Affleck tells Yahoo Entertainment about his conversations with Jordan. “I was just lucky enough to get a little bit of time to talk to him and say, ‘Hey, look, if you don't want me to do this, I won't, outta respect.’ And then he guided me towards people that were important to him, because I had to change and compress [characters], and obviously it's not a 10-hour documentary. He said, ‘Look, there's some people [like George Raveling and Howard White] that are really important in this story, and they shouldn't be left out.' “And Viola came in and really built the Deloris role. And so he opened up doors for me to find these brilliant actors … who I've always wanted to work with and get them to support me and make this movie much, much bigger than something that I could do on my own.”
And while there was an actor (Damian Delano Young) cast as young Jordan, Affleck made a conscious creative decision never to show the character’s face. “Michael's just too famous and too meaningful and too important and too much of an icon for me to believe, particularly given that there is only a couple of moments in the film, that any actor could convince you that they, in fact, were Michael Jordan,” Affleck explains. “[Just] his silhouette is recognizable around the world.
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“And so I thought that it was actually more interesting that he exists above and outside, kind of in the clouds above everybody [and] everyone around him. And also I'm mindful of the fact that this is not the Michael Jordan story. We didn't go get his rights. He didn't get paid, like, ‘Hey, we're gonna tell your story, your childhood, your thing.’ This is not that. And so I didn't think it was really appropriate, frankly, to use that. This is a story about other people. It's a sort of a fable using that story… You know, you're f***ing around with an extremely important figure in American history, and I wanted to just handle that as respectfully and carefully as I could.”
The “Bred” Air Jordan 13s worn by the namesake in Game 2 are among the most iconic shoes in the entire Jordan catalog. He debuted the shoes during “The Last Dance” 1997-98 season and Air Jordan has continued to release different versions of the 13s over the last 25 years. With Ben Affleck’s “Air” movie about Nike’s pursuit of Jordan as a rookie releasing in theaters this week and Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum’s first signature Jordan shoe hitting shelves on Friday, Air Jordan is getting plenty of buzz right now.
Vaccaro, 83, was approached to be a part of the film last year, but he had no authority over its contents. He did, however, spend time on the set, and he got to know and shared thoughts with Matt Damon, who played Vaccaro in the movie. Vaccaro came away impressed with Damon’s basketball knowledge, how the actor portrayed him in the movie and the way the film showcased Nike’s opposition to chasing Jordan. “They embellished some things, but I can honestly say there were no lies,” Vaccaro said. “All I did was have faith in (Jordan) when no one else did.”
Vaccaro said he’s pleased with all he accomplished with Nike and afterward. He’s considered by some to be one of the pioneers of the summer basketball circuit, and his legacy is forever tied to signing Jordan and Bryant to their first shoe deals. He’s happy an actor of Damon’s stature played him in “Air” and how the story was told in the film. “I can go to my deathbed not being embarrassed by anything that I saw,” Vaccaro said. “I can tell the public it ended great, because the real winner was the fans. But the person who made it happen was Mrs. Jordan.”
Via Variety, Affleck shared that Jordan wanted to see Howard White in the film, who is the vice president of sports marketing for the Jordan Brand. Affleck said the casting opportunity gave him a chance to work with actor Chris Tucker, who appears as White in Air. Jordan also had a specific casting request for who would portray his mother, Deloris Jordan. The Chicago Bulls great told Affleck he wanted Oscar winner Viola Davis to play the part. “I got the script and then had the chance again to talk to Michael. Michael Jordan, for those of you who don’t know, is one of the most intimidating, impressive men you’ll ever see in your life,” Affleck said (via Variety). “He told me about is father. And then he talked about his mother. It was the first time I saw this look cross his face. It was a look of reverence, of awe, of love, and gratitude, and innocence. He said, ‘None of this would have ever happened without my mother.’ I said, ‘Who would you like to play your mom?’ He said, ‘Well, it has to be Viola Davis.”
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Q:What was the inspiration for this movie? Ben Affleck: "There is no one inspiration for this. It's not a story from any one person's point of view. It's really my own look at these events, and if it's about anything, it's about what Michael Jordan meant to the sporting world, to the world at large. The way he was and what he did transformed sports, transformed sports marketing, transformed the way athletes were compensated, treated."
Utah native and Grammy nominee Jewel, along with Post Malone and actors Vin Diesel and Ben Affleck, will be among the performers at this weekend’s NBA All-Star events in Salt Lake City. Jewel will perform “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the All-Star Game on Sunday, Diesel will be welcoming fans and Post Malone will perform a medley after LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo draft their teams for the game. The halftime show will feature three Nigerian artists — Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer Burna Boy, Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated singer Tems and rapper Rema — doing an Afrobeats-themed performance.
The relationship between Jordan and Nike has been made into a feature film, directed by Ben Affleck, who also plays Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The story will focus on how Nike’s nascent basketball department signed Jordan in his rookie year, a deal that became perhaps the most lucrative athlete-brand partnership in history.
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