'One Night in Miami': Meet Eli Goree, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Leslie Odom Jr, Aldis Hodge and rest of the cast of Regina King's directorial debut
Regina King's directorial debut has one of the best premises of Black storytelling on screen in recent times. Four legends representing Black excellence in sports, music and activism meet in a motel room, one night in Miami.
One of them, named Cassius Clay, has just won the "World's Heavy Weight Champion" title, the youngest to do so. Another, the renowned musician Sam Cooke, will be dead within a year, shot to death by a motel manager. Then there is Malcolm X and Jim Brown, the NFL superstar. The best thing about King's film is that the four men actually did meet on February 25, 1964, and the movie's narrative imagines what might have happened and what the men could have talked about that night.
It is a film that wouldn't have worked without a strong ensemble cast who not only had to represent these icons of American socio-history but also give performances that complemented each other. King's casting choice has been applauded by critics as the strongest element of the film. Here is everything there is to know about the main cast of the film that premieres on Amazon Prime on January 15:
Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X
The fiery civil rights leader Malcolm X is played by Kingsley Ben-Adir. This is not the first time this young actor has played a well-known face. He appeared in the Showtime original miniseries 'The Comey Rule' as former United States President Barack Obama. In 2020, he appeared in HBO Max's original series 'Love Life', had a recurring part in Hulu's 'High Fidelity' and was in AMC's 'Soulmates'. Ben-Adir is best known for his roles in 'The OA' and 'Peaky Blinders'. He was also in the comedy film 'Noelle' and Guy Ritchie’s 2017 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword'.
Leslie Odom Jr as Sam Cooke
'One Night in Miami' happens in February 1964. Sam Cooke was shot dead in December that year. As an actor, Leslie Odom Jr did not want to think about that death to come in a movie that is essentially about Black hope in a racially divided America. "I never, ever wanted to deal with December because December was not present in February. That is the great tragedy. I wanted him to be full of life in that hotel room: I got the world ahead of me. There’s so much that I want to accomplish. I never wanted that tragic coda to be present," he said about playing the role in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Odom Jr is best known for playing the morally ambiguous Aaron Burr in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical 'Hamilton', for which he won a Tony and Grammy. He has appeared in a variety of Broadway productions, including 'Rent', 'Dreamgirls' and 'Leap of Faith'. He has released four solo albums.
Eli Goree as Cassius Clay
Goree's resemblance to the iconic boxing legend Cassius Clay, who became Muhammed Ali, is uncanny. The fight in the ring, Cassius Clay against Sonny Liston, sets up the film's premise and his victory is the hopeful backdrop to the conversations the four men have. Goree plays Cassius Clay, the youngest heavyweight champ in the country at the time. It is a breakout role for Goree, whose few other film credits include an unnamed character in 2014’s Godzilla and recurring roles on 'Ballers', 'Riverdale', and 'Glow'. 'One Night in Miami' is Eli Goree’s third feature film credit. Besides 'Godzilla', he also appeared as the Olympic track star Dave Albritton in the 2016 sports drama 'Race', about Jesse Owens' winning a record-breaking four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin games.
Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown
Last but not least was Jim Brown, the star athlete. One of the most successful NFL football stars, Brown would go on to be a sports analyst and then even appear in films and television productions like 'Slaughter', 'The A-Team', and the 1996 'Mars Attacks!'. Hodge speaking about the film said that while it is easy to think of the film as the Black Man's experience in the '60s, "it’s not singularly just the Black men; we are led by a Black woman. In my experience, in this country, we, as Black men, have been most protected by the Black women," he said in the EW interview of the cast members.
'One Night in Miami' premieres on Amazon on January 15.