The actor Michael B. Jordan may have that mitigating middle initial (he’s not on the Bulls either) — but Jordan gets the best of Kobe Bryant anyway in a funny new ad for Apple TV. Everybody but Siri ages. Even if Kobe and his legendary work ethic have slowed ‘Father Time’ (as the ad is called) the best they could, it’s a losing battle. In the spot, Jordan is hired to play the young Kobe — love that hair Mamba! — and the actor understands the storyline as that of a tragic hero “battling a steep decline.”
Bryant hates the narrative and tries to correct it. “There’s no decline,” he says, “it’s all ascension.” Bryant thinks Jordan is playing “young Kobe” but, alas, Jordan reveals they’re going to tell the whole story. The spot leaves unanswered the (literally) biggest question: who plays Shaq?