Jason Bateman, Viola Davis join cast of Ben Affleck’s Nike drama

Actors Jason Bateman, Viola Davis, Chris Tucker, Marlon Wayans and Chris Messina are the latest addition to the cast of Ben Affleck’s untitled Nike drama.

Affleck will be starring in and directing the movie for Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports and Mandalay Pictures.

According to Deadline, Matthew Maher, Tom Papa and Julius Tennon round out the the cast.

The sports marketing film will narrate the story of Nike, the footwear manufacturing company.

Affleck will star as Nike co-founder Phil Knight in the story surrounding the company’s longshot effort to sign Michael Jordan in the mid-’80s, an endorsement that seemed impossible at the time but which would become the most significant relationship between an athletic brand and an athlete and launched the global, multibillion-dollar contemporary sneaker industry.

The “Argo” helmer is reuniting with his longtime friend and “Good Will Hunting” co-writer Matt Damon for the project. Damon will play Sonny Vaccaro, the legendary sneaker salesman who signed basketball great Jordan to his first sneaker deal in the initial days of Nike.

The film is based on Alex Convery’s original script titled ‘Air Jordan’, which was named to the 2021 Black List of the best-unproduced screenplays.

The project is currently being filmed in Los Angeles.