His House Of Lies colleague Kristen Bell appeared in a Kickstartered VERONICA MARS movie, which may well have inspired actor and first time director Don Cheadle for his planned Miles Davis biopic set in the Eighties. The campaign is happening via Indiegogo with the requisite smattering of goodies for those who wish to invest. Cheadle has always struck me as a more intelligent performer than most – even Warren Beatty had to jump through hoops to get him to appear in BULWORTH – and his statement treads just the right line between articulacy and gushing:
While Miles used his horn to communicate and create ‘social music’ we are using social media and today’s online platforms to reach out to the music community, the film community and all people who are excited to see an explosive, cool music-filled movie.
With Ewan McGregor to co-star and a rich jazz legacy/turbulent life story to play with, this is promising material. Davis was a big name throughout the middle part of the twentieth century and the film shows him re-emerging onto the scene toward the end of his life, having beaten problems with drug addiction. Cheadle was given the idea in impromptu fashion when Davis’s nephew Vince Wilburn cheekily announced his “casting” during a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2006.
The only issue for me is the title – MILES AHEAD. It sounds like a sitcom, and the previous handle of KILL THE TRUMPET PLAYER was a bit better. It isn’t the first time the debut helmsman has portrayed an American musical icon. In 1998 he appeared as Sammy Davis Jr in HBO film The Rat Pack, also featuring the bizarre but inspired choice of Ray Liotta as Frank Sinatra.
Arguably Cheadle is best known these days for spouting an outrageous Cockney accent in Steven Soderbergh’s OCEAN’S ELEVEN trilogy (the original of which also starred Davis Jr), so MILES AHEAD should go some way to re-establishing him at the top of his game. Kudos to him for sinking his own chunk of change into the budget. The star is also producing through his production company Crescendo along with Bifrost. The team have until July 10th to raise the dough.
Source: Variety
