Miles Davis biopic starring Don Cheadle - "Miles Ahead"*

Trailer looks interesting, I'm curious to see the film whenever it comes out.

 

As the guy who started this thread I have to say this trailer looks better than I expected. Cheadle pretty much nails Davis. Let's see if there's a compelling story here and this could be interesting.

 

An acquaintance of mine is shopping an Elvin Jones 'meta-quasi-biopic' (starring Josh Hartnett) wherein the drummer moonlights as sort of an Inspector Gadget meets Sam Spade character, joined occasionally by telekinetic pal McCoy Tyner (Tommy Davidson). It's wall-to-wall would-be facts, just shuffled around and interspersed with great performances of "Brasilia", "Super Bon Bon", and "Dance on a Volcano". Some offscreen drug use and foul language. Might be good.

 

And when they see this film, they're not going to know that a lot of it isn't true. I've read a couple biographies on Davis, and I don't remember all the gunplay
I saw in this trailer. I would have thought his real story was interesting enough, but I guess that's why I'm not in Hollywood making movies.

 

A must see !

 

Just saw something about an Ethan Hawke project, he's starring in a movie about Chet Baker! It'll be interesting to compare these 2 movies after the dust settles!

 

Looks frightfully awful, but Hollywuud doesn't care what I think and although he's a decent enough performer I wouldn't have expected Don Cheadle to be enlightening anyone on the subject of Miles Davis. Ewan McGregor goes down a few notches for participating in this as well. I understand his character is totally fictional, and of course it would have to be. Miles wouldn't have taken a white rock journalist from Rolling Stone on as a sidekick. Or would he? Ralph Gleason once asked Miles to look him up the next time he was in CA when Miles was playing there. Miles's response was 'What for?' It's in the Chambers biography.

 

This is an independent production, so not really a "Hollywood" film. Hollywood would never have made a film about Miles Davis.

Don Cheadle on the reason Ewan McGregor is in the film (he needed a white co-star to get financing):

“There are different metrics by which those who are going to spend money on films determine if it’s a good risk or not, and there is a lot of apocryphal, not proven evidence that black films don’t sell overseas. Having a white actor in this film turned out to be a financial imperative,” he explained. “It was a component of getting to a certain number that would allow us a certain budget to get the film made. It’s one of the realities of the business we’re in.”

Don Cheadle on the reason it's NOT a biopic:

With the film, there was a desire to make a movie that “felt like Miles Davis, not a documentary. I wanted it to be explosive and exciting like his music… I wanted to be in the skin of Miles Davis and attempt to do with my craft what he did with his.”

Full article:
Don Cheadle On 'Miles Ahead' & The "Financial Imperative" Of A White Co-Star - Berlin »

 

Just saw the trailer. Oh my. Lethal Weapon Part 6 with a jazz soundtrack. Well, I said in the second post this looks awesome based on one article. Now this looks like a steaming pile of rubbish but I hope to be wrong.

 

I swear man, when will people learn to stop judging films they haven't seen yet based solely on a trailer (which 98% of the time is made by completely different filmmakers). It's infuriating.

 

This certainly sounds better than saying "Don Cheadle isn't famous enough on his own to get his pet project backed."

 

So just to be clear, it's OK to say 'I can't wait to see this movie.' based on a trailer but it's not OK to say 'This looks like crap.' based on the same information?

 

I've seen great films that had horrible trailers...and I've seen terrible films that had absolutely amazing trailers. I wouldn't buy a car based solely on seeing an ad, I'd want to drive it first. I wouldn't form an opinion on a movie until I actually watched it. Before I see it, the only viable options are a) I'm interested in seeing this...or b) I'm not interested in seeing this.

 

This idea is so idiotic i dont know where to begin. Im actually curious about miles, this idea just totally ruins it. A concert movie sounds much more exciting.

Whats next? An actor portraying george duke as shaft?

 

Miles Davis would have smacked someone in the face if they said "artistic freedom my *ss".

 

No one's judging anything other than what has been so far presented by the production company.

 

I know how you feel. I've been looking forward to this movie for years, now I won't even bother with it.

I saw enough in the trailer to know I don't want to see the film. So thank heaven for the trailer, I guess.

 

So per the 'viable options' instruction let's say 'This looks like crap' = 'I'm not interested in seeing this'.

 

A movie featuring an actor portraying Miles Davis as Shaft would be pretty interesting. Laying down sessions by day, laying down justice by night - or vice-versa...

 

How can you slag it off when you haven't seen it yet?

 

How about Miles Davis as "Blackula!"

 

I've read about it, I've seen the trailer, I've spent a lot of time with Miles Davis's music over the years and read books about his life. I didn't say I didn't enjoy the movie or it was terrible without having seen it. I said the idea for this story stinks, we know the idea, and the trailer looks awful. I will ask you, as I asked the other guy who jumped on me for saying it looks awful, why you are not also critical of people who have formed the opposite opinion based on the trailer and can't wait to see it?

 

I have formed no opinion of it and will not until I see it. I do plan on watching it, I have not watched the trailer because I don't need to, I've already decided to go. I didn't jump all over anyone, I made a statement.

 

I'm a huge fan of Don...we're gonna see this asap!

 

It certainly looks a little different than what I thought it was going to be, but if it's meant to be taken as pure entertainment first, well it may just do it's job.

Even if it inspires someone to walk out of it and purchase their first a copy of Dark Magus or Live Evil, that's got to be worth something.