One Night in Miami, a movie adaptation of the Olivier-nominated one-act play with the same name, will be Regina King’s (Watchmen) film directorial debut. The play was initially written by Kemp Powers, who is the writer for the movie as well. It is a fictional account of a night between four famous friends in the 1960s.
The movie follows Cassius Clay in his first steps before he became known to the world as boxing champion Muhammad Ali. On February 25, 1964, he knocked out Sonny Liston and became the heavyweight world champion. Due to segregation laws, he was not allowed to stay where the fight took place and instead spent the night with Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke, at Hampton House Motel in Miami. The movie shows the writer’s imagination of what took place behind those closed doors that night.
The movie stars Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton) as Sam Cooke, Aldis Hodge (Leverage) as Jim Brown, Kingsley Ben-Adir (Peaky Blinders) as Malcolm X, and Eli Goree (Riverdale) as Cassius Clay. Regina Black calls One Night in Miami a “love letter to black manhood” in a comment to Deadline, and also expresses excitement over having the actors portraying these icons.
Production has already started in New Orleans, but there is not yet an official release date for the movie.