American Rhetoric: Movie Speech

"Air" (2023)

Sonny Vaccaro Pitches the Myth of Michael Jordan on Behalf of Nike

Money can buy you almost anything. It can't buy you immortality. That you have to earn.

I'm gonna look you in the eyes and I'm going to tell you the future.

You were cut from your high school basketball team.

You willed your way to the NBA.

You're gonna win championships.

It's an American story and that's why Americans are going to love it.

People are going to build you up -- god are they going to. Because when you're great and new, we love you. Man, we'll build you into something that doesn't even exist. You're going to change the [redacted] world.

But you know what? Once they've built you as high as they possibly can,  they're going to tear you back down.

It's the most predictable pattern. We build you into something that doesn't exist, and that means you have to try to be that thing -- all day, every day.

That's how it works.

And we do it again and again and again.

And I'm gonna tell you the truth: You're going to be attacked, betrayed, exposed, and humiliated.

And you'll survive that.

A lot of people can climb that mountain. It's the way down that breaks them. Because that's the moment when you are truly alone.

And what will you do then? Can you summon the will to fight on through all the pain and rise again.

Who are you, Michael? That will be the defining question of your life. And I think you already know the answer. And that's why we're all here.

A shoe is just a shoe -- until somebody steps into it. Then it has meaning.

The rest of us just want a chance to touch that greatness.

And we need you in these shoes, not so you have meaning in your life but so that we have meaning in ours.

Everyone at this table will be forgotten as soon as our time here is up.

Except for you.

You're going to be remembered forever -- because some things are eternal.

You're Michael Jordan, and your story is gonna make us want to fly.