One of my favorite films of 2020 was Regina King’s fantastic directorial debut One Night in Miami. Based off the award-winning play of the same name by Kemp Powers, the film imagines a fictional night in 1964 where Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) discuss race, religion, and their personal responsibility to the civil rights movement. Loaded with some of the best performances you’ll see in a movie this year, I cannot recommend this film enough. In addition, Regina King shows she is a real talent behind the camera and I would imagine she is being offered a number of other projects to direct this year.

Shortly after seeing the movie I got to speak with Eli Goree about playing Cassius Clay, aka Muhammad Ali. He talked about why this was such a dream role, why he stayed in character while filming, how he got ready to film the hotel room scenes and what he learned for his next film role, and if he feels like society is changing at all due to the Black Lives Matter and what has happened last year.

Eli Goree:

I jokingly ask what he paid to be in the movie.
Why it was a dream role.
Does he feel like society is changing at all regarding racism?
How did he get ready to film the hotel room scenes and the staging of the scenes?
Did he always stay in character while filming?
How people treated him when he stayed in character.

Here's the official synopsis:

On one incredible night in 1964, four icons of sports, music, and activism gathered to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. When underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali, (Eli Goree), defeats heavy weight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall, Clay memorialized the event with three of his friends: Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge).

Based on the award-winning play of the same name, and directed by Regina King, One Night In Miami... is a fictional account inspired by the historic night these four formidable figures spent together. It looks at the struggles these men faced and the vital role they each played in the civil rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960s. More than 40 years later, their conversations on racial injustice, religion, and personal responsibility still resonate.

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