“ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI” KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR, ELI GOREE, ALDIS HODGE, AND LESLIE ODOM, JR.

“ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI” BEGINS PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY

KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR, ELI GOREE, ALDIS HODGE, AND LESLIE ODOM, JR., STAR IN HIGHLY ANTICIPATED FILM ADAPTATION OF KEMP POWERS’ OLIVIER®-NOMINATED STAGE PLAY

 ACADEMY AWARD® WINNING ACTRESS REGINA KING MAKES FEATURE FILM DIRECTORIAL DEBUT

·       “One Night in Miami,” the feature film adaptation of Kemp Powers’ Olivier®-nominated stage play, starts production in New Orleans January 7^th.

·     HOLLYWOOD (Perfect Music Today)1/10/20–  Cast includes Kingsley Ben-Adir (“The OA”) as civil rights activist Malcolm X, Eli Goree (“Riverdale”) as professional boxer and civil rights activist Cassius Clay (before becoming Muhammad Ali), Aldis Hodge (Clemency) as NFL champion, actor and civil rights activist Jim Brown, and Grammy® and Tony Award® winner Leslie Odom, Jr. (Harriet) as singer/songwriter, entrepreneur and civil rights activist Sam Cooke.

·       “One Night in Miami” marks Oscar® winning actress, Regina King’s, feature film directorial debut.  King will also executive produce.  Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder of Snoot Entertainment (“Blindspotting,” “Anomalisa”) and Jody Klein of ABKCO (“The Durrells in Corfu,” “The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus”) serving as producers.  King and Powers executive produce.  Kemp Powers (Pixar’s “Soul”) adapts his fictional stage play for the screen and executive produces.  Key crew includes Cinematographer Tami Reiker (“Beyond the Lights,” “High Art”), Costume Designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (“Just Mercy,” “Detroit”), Production Designer Barry Robison (“Hacksaw Ridge,” “Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”) and Academy Award® nominated Editor Tariq Anwar (“King’s Speech,” “American Beauty”).

·       Set on the night of February 25, 1964, “One Night in Miami” follows a young, brash Cassius Clay as he emerges from the Miami Beach Convention Center the new Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World.  Against all odds, he defeated Sonny Liston and shocked the sports world.  While crowds of people swarm Miami Beach to celebrate the match, Clay – unable to stay on the island because of Jim Crow-era segregation laws – spends the evening at the Hampton House Motel in Miami’s African American Overtown neighborhood celebrating with three of his closest friends: Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown.  During this historic evening, these icons, who each were the very representation of the Pre-Black Power Movement and felt the social pressure their cross-over celebrity brought, shared their thoughts with each other about their responsibilities as influencers, standing up, defending their rights and moving the country forward to equality and empowerment for all black people.  The next morning, the four men emerge determined to define a new world for themselves and their community.

·       ”’One Night in Miami’ is a love letter to black manhood that powerfully explores themes of race, identity and friendship,” says Director Regina King.  “Each of them has contributed so much to culture and history.  We’re so excited to have Kingsley, Eli, Aldis and Leslie in the lead roles showing a different side of these iconic men.”

·       Originally staged in 2013, Kemp Powers’ critically acclaimed play takes a well-known real-life event and imagines what might have been. Powers explores this pivotal night, the dynamic relationship between these four men, and how their friendship, successes and shared struggles fueled their paths to becoming the civil rights icons they are today.

·       ABOUT THE CAST:  Leslie Odom, Jr., in the role of Sam Cooke, will perform Cooke’s songs in the film including “A Change is Gonna Come,” the classic song that became an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement in 1960s America and is still an anthem of hope over 50 years later.

·       Ben-Adir is repped by CAA. Goree is repped by Authentic Talent and Literary Management and Play Management. Hodge is repped by Jason Priluck for management, Paradigm, and Ziffren Brittenham. Odom Jr. is repped by Untitled Entertainment, CAA, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein.  King is repped by ICM Partners, John Carrabino Management, and Del, Shaw.

·       ABOUT ABKCO: Producer Jody Klein and ABKCO have been involved with “One Night in Miami” as a property for the better part of the past decade.  ABKCO has served as producer of the theatrical presentation of “One Night in Miami” directly after the play’s initial launch in Los Angeles, working to mount the productions in the U.K., Denver, South Africa, Miami and Pittsburgh, among other locales. Over the course of six decades ABKCO has played a key role in maintaining and safeguarding the legacy of Sam Cooke through educational programs, music releases and the Grammy Award® winning documentary “Sam Cooke – Legend.”

·       ABOUT SNOOT ENTERTAINMENT: Keith Calder and Jess Wu Calder co-founded Snoot Entertainment in 2004 to develop, finance, and produce films across all genres and media. Most recently, Snoot produced “Little Monsters” and “Corporate Animals” which both premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and “Blindspotting,” which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Additional Snoot productions include Charlie Kaufman’s Academy Award®-nominated animated film “Anomalisa,” Adam Wingard’s “The Guest” “You’re Next,” and “Blaire Witch,” NAACP Image Award®-nominated documentary “Thunder Soul,” and Jonathan Levine’s “The Wackness.”

Media Contact: Jackie Bazan jbazan@bazanpr.com / (212) 643-4664 x704