“One Night in Miami” premiered in theaters on Christmas Day last year and on January 15, 2021 it started streaming on Amazon Prime Video. It is Oscar and four-time Emmy-winning actress Regina King‘s feature directorial debut, adapted by writer Kemp Powers from his 2013 stage play of the same name.
The film imagines what would have happened if boxer Cassius Clay a.k.a. Muhammad Ali (Eli Goree), singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), civil rights activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and NFL legend Jim Brown came together in a Miami hotel room after Clay defeated Sonny Liston in February of 1964. What transpires between these iconic men is a lively and timely discussion set against the backdrop of the tumultuous civil rights movement of the 1960s. Scroll down for our exclusive video interviews with top Oscar contenders from the film.
SEE If Leslie Odom Jr. wins an Oscar for ‘One Night in Miami,’ he’ll be one away from EGOT glory
All four stars of the film are vying for their first Oscar recognition, with Odom Jr. having already racked up Golden Globe, SAG and Critics Choice Award nominations as Best Supporting Actor and the film’s cast scoring a Best Film Ensemble nomination at the SAG Awards.
Powers is also new to the Oscar race, having debuted as writer on 2020 on two high-profile projects; “Miami” and the Pixar animated feature “Soul.” Meanwhile, multi-award winner King, already an accomplished helmer on TV projects like “Insecure,” “Scandal” and “This Is Us,” is looking for an Oscar bookend for her big-screen debut in the director’s chair.
Will “One Night in Miami” bring them all to the Oscars? The academy loves biographical stories and have nominated multiple films exploring the fight for civil rights, including “Selma” (2014), “Hidden Figures” (2016), “BlacKkKlansman” (2019) and “Green Book” (2019) in recent years. The film resonates powerfully because it draws unmistakable parallels between the social upheaval of the 1960s and the convulsive state of American society in 2020, during which disturbing racial injustice and systemic racism exposed by the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and others spurred uprisings against white supremacy and anti-Black violence.
Follow the links below to see what some of the film’s creative team have to say.
Kingsley Ben-Adir, Actor
Jess Wu Calder and Keith Calder, Producers
Eli Goree, Actor
Aldis Hodge, Actor
Kemp Powers, Writer
Barry Robison, Production Designer
PREDICT the 2021 Oscar nominations through March 15
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