‘Air’ Exists Because One Underemployed Guy in His 20s Saw ‘The Last Dance’

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( story behind the script [Air Exists Because One Underemployed Guy in His 20s Saw The Last Dance]( Alex Convery had zero TV or movie credits when he saw three key minutes of the 2020 Michael Jordan docuseries and thought, Man, this is a movie. Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios As the Air Jordan creation-myth biopic [Air]( makes its way to the multiplex Wednesday, the movie’s screenwriter, [Alex Convery](, can’t avoid observing certain ironies. Although Air is nominally a sports movie plotted around Nike’s least-likely-to-succeed 1984 endorsement-deal signing of Michael Jordan, its watchability is predicated on “people in rooms talking”; there is but one scene of actual basketball in the whole thing. Convery wrote the script “out of desperation” without really expecting to ever see it translated to the big screen — he attributes its adaptation by director and co-star Ben Affleck (with lead actor Matt Damon also producing) to luck more than his own writing excellence. And though Convery, now 30, conceived Air while a less-than-gainfully-employed 20-something with zero movie or TV credits during the dull days of pandemic lockdown, he shrugs at the Hollywood narrative around his “written by” allocation on the film: after years of false starts, a drawerful of unmade scripts, and years of low-level showbiz drudge work, that he could somehow be viewed as an “overnight” success. “It’s been funny to hear, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is your first screenplay. Congratulations!’” he tells Vulture via video link. “I have a graveyard of unproduced screenplays too. Since graduating film school, it’s been nine years of grinding away, chipping away, trying to write The One. And why this one instead of the other ones? I don’t know. Most of it is just the right people reading the right script at the right time.” [read more]( [Spring Sale](: For a limited time, save over 70% on unlimited access to Vulture and get a [free tote]( with any annual plan. The Latest TV Recaps • Vanderpump Rules: [Holy Maloney]( • Snowfall: [El Oso y El Santo]( • Dave: [Young and Wild]( • Beef: [American Dream]( • Star Trek: Picard: [The Gang Is Back Together!]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [Vanessa: Blumhouse Is Making a Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie And we have a creepy first look.]( By Bethy Squires [Watch Jordan E. Cooper’s Miscast Performance of ‘The Ladies Who Lunch’ The Ain’t No Mo’ playwright gives you full fur-coat Sondheim.]( By Jackson McHenry [A New Sterling K. Brown Drama Awaits From This Is Us and Only Murders in the Building creator Dan Fogelman.]( By Zoe Guy [Sarah Silverman Is Taping a New HBO Special It’s the comedian’s first since 2017’s A Speck of Dust.]( By Hershal Pandya [When One Podcast Picks Up Where Another Leaves Off A new project from the Marshall Project finds some overlap with a recent Serial Productions series.]( By Nicholas Quah [Johnny Depp’s Jeanne du Barry Will Open Cannes 2023 for Some Reason Indiana Jones 5 and Asteroid City are also set to premiere at the festival.]( By Zoe Guy [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Today’s Crossword]( 22-Down, Four Letters: Amy, Jo, and Meg’s sister, in Little Women. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images, Alamy A newsletter of TV and movie recommendations. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](link.nymag.com/manage/588/optout-vulture?email={EMAIL}&hash=39357a76f6d08b16239fd2ffa65e9c6f¶m=vulture-daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2023, All rights reserved