“It Was The Most Moving Moment For Me In Any Movie I’ve Made” – Ben Affleck And Chris Tucker Share Their Experiences On Creating The New Film “Air”
One of the greatest stories in sports hits our screens this year. AIR tells the story of the shoe above all shoes was created: the Air Jordans.
Amazon Studios
It’s not easy to tell the story of a legend, so we sat down with film director Ben Affleck and the comeback king Chris Tucker to discuss the elements of relationships and race that take place within the future blockbuster hit.
Speaking on marginalised communities, Chris, you play a role where you’re bridging the gap between a “white” company and Black athletes. I saw that when your character was communicating with Michael Jordan’s parents, Viola and Julius, there was a tone shift, was that something you could relate to? Did you pull from any real-life experiences where you had to change the way you speak depending on the people around you?
Chris: You know what, no. But talking to Howard I learned he went to an all-white high school and he became class president in the ’60s. So I was pulling from that more than anything, like how did he do that? I was talking to his teachers and they were like “everybody loved Howard” and it didn’t hurt that he was an All-American basketball player. Everybody loved him because he was winning on the basketball team, but he was also a nice guy and he had a reputation for being a nice guy. You can’t get a voted class president if you’re messing around and doing bad things. So I pulled from that. If you are who you are, no matter where you are, people are going to like you and they’re going to not like you, but just be consistent and, try to be a good person, you’re gonna get doors that are gonna open for you.
Ben: That’s all credit to Julius (Tennon) and Viola. I was like this, “you two are married – whatever day you’re having, it doesn’t matter because that’s one day in your marriage.” Good day, bad day, we have those days in marriage and it was real, and a guy like Julius just comes alive to audiences because they just see how marriages kind of do this.