The Hollywood duo of Matt Damon & Ben Affleck are teaming up once again to do a movie about Nike’s efforts to sign Michael Jordan to his sneaker deal back in the 1980s according to the Hollywood Reporter
The movie will centre around former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro who will be portrayed by Damon and Nike co-founder Phil Knight who Affleck will play. Damon & Affleck have already won the highest award when they took home the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Good Will Hunting in 1998.
The movie will focus on Nike’s efforts to sign Michael Jordan in 1984 when Jordan was entering the NBA. Coming out of North Carolina, Jordan was the 3rd overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. Vaccaro managed to do the impossible for what was at the time, a minor shoe company and keep Jordan away from Adidas, Reebok and Converse. By doing this, Vaccaro helped Nike transform into the powerhouse it is today by bridging the relationship an athlete and a brand, and the sneaker industry as a whole.
Vaccaro, who is now 82 years old, helped to make the sneaker industry what it is today by signing players like Jordan and Kobe Bryant to multi-million dollar shoe deals with Nike.
“I don’t think people understood how my career evolved. I wanted the public to know how sneaker marketing started. For better or worse, this is who I am,” Vaccaro told ESPN about “Sole Man” in 2015. “I don’t think people understood how my relationships with coaches evolved and how I got involved with Nike. This is how Jordan happened, this is how Kobe happened.
“Sole Man” was co-directed by Jon Weinbach, who is president of Skydance Sports. Weinbach was also a producer of the Emmy-winning ESPN series “The Last Dance,” which he did with Mandalay Pictures chairman Peter Guber, who will produce the upcoming movie. Now they’ll team up again for another part of the Jordan story.
Will this be worth seeing? Let us know sneakeheads!
