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Don Cheadle as Miles Davis in Miles Ahead
Courtesy of the Sundance Institute
Don Cheadle was nominated for an Oscar for Hotel Rwanda, in 2004. He lost to Jamie Foxx for his performance in Ray. Next year, Academy voters will have to seriously consider Cheadle for his passionate portrayal of jazz legend Miles Davis in Miles Ahead. But the actor, director, co-writer and co-producer of the film, told The Root he is not looking for accolades.
“If my movie makes $100 million or $200 million, but I don’t get nominated, thank you I’ll take that. Because those are the votes that I count.”
Whether or not Miles Ahead makes the Oscar cut next year, audiences at the Sundance Film Festival where his movie played in the Spotlight section, gave it lots of love. Selma director Ava DuVernay, who watched the film with The Root said, “it was a lovely performance from him.” For Cheadle it was personal. “I wanted to make a movie that Miles Davis would want to star in.”
This was also the first feature film Cheadle directed. “A lot of what I was trying to do, as opposed to mimicry or an impersonation of him, was trying to find, and this may sound like esoteric bullshit, I was really trying to pull him close to me. You know, reach out and find a place where we both connected you know. I’m a musician and I study and I play,” said Cheadle. He plays piano, saxophone and drums, but took up the trumpet so that he could appear authentic on camera. While he does play in the film, it’s actually looped with the real music from Davis.
Miles Ahead has been in the works for 10 years, since Davis’s nephew Vince Wilburn, Jr. said publically that he wanted Cheadle to play his uncle. At Sundance Wilburn told The Root, “I think Don was spot on with it. It moved fast, but the music moved fast. He captured it, he was fearless and he was very engaging with me and the family.”
The film was not easy to finance. Cheadle ran an Indiegogo campaign to raise money. He also said he had to cast a bankable white actor to get the film made. That actor, Ewan McGregor, plays a journalist in the film who becomes a kind of confidant and running buddy to Davis.
“I thought it would be an exciting place to be and I wanted very much to be part of it. To play the part because it’s great fun and it really came off the page and I thought I’d have a lot of freedom with it. Equally I wanted to be by Don’s side while he went about this and see how he did this. I learned such a great deal from working with Don.” said McGregor at the film’s Sundance premiere. Emayatzy Corinealdi, who plays Miles Davis’s first wife Frances (married from 1958-1968), said she was attracted to the role because Cheadle is “one of those actors that you really just dream of working with.”
Miles Ahead takes place in the 1970’s, during a time when Davis’s drug addiction kept him from playing the trumpet, but the film also shifts back to earlier years and his relationship with Frances. The film is a bit like the jazz musician’s music, it moves fast at times and that might not be what everyone wants. But Cheadle fully captures Davis, with the raspy voice, Jheri curl wig and ability to pull off playing the trumpet. Miles Ahead opens April 1.
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