Ben Affleck’s Nike Drama For Amazon Adds Joel Gretsch & Gustaf Skarsgård

Matt Grobar

July 13, 2022 at 1:15 p.m.·2 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Joel Gretsch (All Rise) and Gustaf Skarsgård (Oppenheimer) are the latest additions to the cast of Ben Affleck’s Nike film for Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports and Mandalay Pictures. They join a star-studded ensemble led by Matt Damon and Affleck in the as-yet-untitled sports marketing pic, which will ultimately premiere on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

The drama has Damon playing maverick sneaker salesman and former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro, with Affleck as Nike co-founder Phil Knight, in a story about Nike’s long-shot effort to sign Michael Jordan to its shoe company in the mid-’80s. It was an endorsement that seemed impossible at the time, but would become the most significant relationship between an athletic brand and an athlete ever, and launched the global, multibillion-dollar contemporary sneaker industry. Pic’s ensemble will also include Jason Bateman as Rob Strasser, Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan, Chris Tucker as Howard White, Marlon Wayans as George Raveling, Matthew Maher as Peter Moore, Chris Messina as David Falk, Tom Papa as Stu Inman, and Julius Tennon as James Jordan.

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Gretsch will play former Converse CEO John O’Neil, with Skarsgård as Adidas founder Horst Dassler.

Alex Convery wrote the original script, titled Air Jordan, which was named to the 2021 Black List of the best unproduced screenplays. Mandalay brought it to Skydance Sports President Jon Weinbach, who then secured Vaccarro’s life rights. Affleck and Damon did a subsequent pass on the script and are producing alongside Peter Guber, Jason Michael Berman, Jeff Robinov, Madison Ainley and David Ellison. Executive producers include Jon Weinbach, Jesse Sisgold, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Kevin Halloran, Michael Joe, John Graham, Drew Vinton, Jordan Moldo and Peter E. Strauss.

Gretsch can be seen recurring on the CBS series All Rise and previously the USA series The 4400. He also notably starred alongside Amy Poehler, Owen Wilson and Zach Galifianakis in Matthew Weiner’s feature directorial debut Are You Here, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

Skarsgård is known for roles on such series as Vikings, Cursed and Westworld, and in films like Kon-Tiki and The Way Back. The actor will soon be seen in Christopher Nolan’s drama Oppenheimer for Universal, and in Ran Huang’s crime drama What Remains, with Andrea Riseborough, Stellan Skarsgård and more.

Gretsch is represented by Buchwald and Atlas Artists; Skarsgård by Mgmt Entertainment, Gersh, and Agentfirman in his native Sweden.

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