Ben Affleck revealed he had to acquiesce to Michael Jordan’s request in order to make Air.

In the South by Southwest world premiere of Air, Ben Affleck said that he didn’t want to make Air without speaking to Michael Jordan first.

He said, “I had a chance to sit down with Michael Jordan, because I just wasn’t going to make this movie without asking him, ‘What matters to you?’ Interestingly, and tellingly, he had a few things that mattered.”

“One of them was that Howard White needed to be in the movie,” Affleck said, referring to the vice president of the Jordan brand.

As per Variety, the Superman actor shared that’s when he learned he needed to cast Chris Tucker for that role.

“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. 

He continued, “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.'”