The scenario—four Black legends from the worlds of music, sports, and politics, all gathered at the height of the Civil Rights struggle—seems almost too cinematic to be true. And while One Night in Miami, the Oscar buzz-generating new film directed by Academy Award- and Emmy-winning If Beale Street Could Talk and Watchmen star Regina King, is fictionalized, the broader strokes are true. In 1964, friends Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) all spent an evening together in a Miami hotel in a once-in-a-lifetime meeting of legends. The movie is an adaptation of a 2013 play by Kemp Powers, who also wrote the screenplay and recently served as co-writer and director of Pixar’s Soul. Powers was inspired to write the play after learning about this historic night in author Mike Marqusee’s Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties. Here’s what you should know about the true story behind the critically acclaimed film. In 1964, Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown were some of the most famous Black men in the world. On February 25th, 1964, a barely-22-year-old boxer then known as Cassius Clay fought heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in Miami, Florida. The Kentucky native was already known for his witty smack talk, boastful poetry and outspoken personality, but he was very much the underdog on the night of his first championship win. Liston, who struck a famously intimidating figure, was thought to be… Click below to read the full story from Esquire
Read More
There’s an Incredible True Story Behind One Night in Miami‘s Meeting of Black Legends
