Regina King Debuts As The First Black Female Director To Have Her Film ‘One Night In Miami’ Screened At The VFM
As per the latest news, Regina King is earning havoc reviews for her directorial feature film debut One Night in Miami which is supposed to be played as a part of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
The story is based on Kemp Power’s play and follows a fictional meeting of Black icons and real-life friends, Malcolm X(Kingsley Ben-Adir), football star Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), newly crowned heavyweight boxing champ Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), and soul singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) as they all spend one fateful night in Miami in 1964 discussing their roles as revolutionaries, leaders, and activists.
For the King, shooting the movie meant getting an opportunity to tell a story about not just the icons which is known by all, but rather a story about the human nature of these men.
Ahead of the film’s TIFF premiere, King told ET Canada’s Sangita Patel that she has never seen anything like this before. Even though he knew these men but they are now his father, son, his uncle, and best friend. It’s Kemp’s love letter to the Black man’s experience and he wanted in on that.
She further added that directing her first feature taught her several things like she now feels that she has more patience than she ever thought she has.
While directing, King knew that she had a talented cast of young actors taking on the iconic roles where she had found her Cassius Clay in Halifax actor Goree, who reportedly played the boxing legend just before changing his name to Muhammad Ali.
In regards to the Canadian actor, she said that she saw him getting transformed and it’s so fantastic to watch that happen. She also said that right now she just brags about the matter that she got a front-row seat to see all these men transform and that no one else could experience the things, the way she did. She also added that all of their performances were just amazing in the casting process and was everything she had been looking out for the commitment. She also revealed that Eli showed that kind of commitment right from the start and that she got the chance to watch him transform his body, the way he walked, the dialect, everything.
King said that it was just a joy to witness and thank God that she made the right choice with all of them.
It is said that although the story is set in 1964 the timelessness of the subject matter is much relevant today as well, especially in the wake of racial injustice in the U.S. which has been making headlines around the world.
She told ET Canada that she was aware of how powerful these conversations were because unfortunately, even after 60 years these men have been talking about the same. She also added that that the protests started happening amidst a pandemic and it made complete sense to her because it’s more than just a story, it is necessary to take action and she hopes that it gets received that way.
I am Jessica Gonzalez and i have over 16 years experience in the financial services industry giving me a vast understanding of how news affects the financial markets. She is an active day trader spending the majority of my time analyzing earnings reports and watching commodities and derivatives. I have a Masters Degree in Economics from Westminster University with previous roles counting Investment Banking.
