Did you hear it about the armed robbery that occurred at an Atlanta House party after Muhammad Ali’s landmark 1970 comeback fight? If not, it’s ok; “Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist” creator and Showrunner Shaye Ogbonna had very little information herself.
“I probably knew less than 1% because it was a little ahead of my time”, the author of the series including “The Chi” and “Penguin“Said.” But when it first appeared on my radar, two things happened. Number one, I was not
Surprised because it sounds like a story that would take place in Atlanta around that time, and secondly, I was also not surprised to know that many of my family members from that generation not only knew about it but knew someone who had some kind of connection. “
Peacock’s eight-part miniseries lean on to the 1960s/70s crime films such as “Thomas Crown business“With a healthy mix of black action drama often called blax plloitation. The story is told through the lens of community leader and
Page Hustler Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (Kevin Hart), who throws a massive Soiree after bout to honor Gangsters Frank “The Black Godfather” Moten and Richard “Cadillac” Wheeler (Samuel L. Jackson and Terrence Howard), only for the party to be held by a weapon by the party. Evil.
“Nothing in popular culture had really zeroed in that fight,” said Ogbonna about the attack that marked Ali’s return to the ring after a three-year ban from fight-
because of his resistance to the military draft. A iHeart podcast 2020 of the same title broadened awareness and became the root point for adaptation for the limited series. The story had added resonance for Ogbonna as native to Atlanta, especially its attitude in an era when the city was known as “Black Mecca.”
It was one of the few times during that period of American history when black prosperity got an exhibition in the south, partly thanks to media attention and political machining about Ali’s legendary match against Jerry Quarry. “My workplace is a very big feature of my work,” said Ogbonna, who has directed films like 2022 Thandiwe newton head role Thriller “God’s land.”
“Craig Brewer, our fantastic director, gave me a great compliment. He called me a regional filmmaker, which means that where I am from is a big part of the work I do. I happened to be a product of the people involved. So for me it was a duty to tell this origin story about how Atlanta came. here and it was the whole world. Atlanta as we see today. ”
Ogbonna was blessed with a role that includes Don Cheadle as the real detective JD Hudson, a former nemesis of Gordons who becomes an indispensable ally, and Taraji P. Henson like Gordon’s cunning, street -wise mistress, Vivian, who stands at her wild systems. A unique aspect of “Fight Night” is how most of the actors have been costs before: Hart and Henson in “Think Like A Man” films, Henson and Howard in “Hustle & Flow” and TV’s “Empire”, Howard and Cheadle in “Crash” and Jackson with everyone.
“Their past experiences that worked together really helped add different dynamics and structures to the characters and stories,” said Ogbonna. “It was cool, because we all got into it as a family.” And Hart, who also served as an executive producer on the project, may extend in a way that no previous role has
allowed. Here he is a sweaty, desperate wheel dealer that we root because his nature is so forgiving and well -meaning.
“I’ve always been a fan of comedians as an actor,” said Ogbonna about Hart and compared him to Eddie Murphy and Mike Epps, both notable to slip in roles on both sides of the comedy/ tragedy mask. “And with Kevin, I always knew he was a fantastic dramatic guy. He didn’t want to make the fun version of Chicken man -character. He wanted to make the real version of it, the guy who was between a stone and a hard place while he was also striving at a time when these things happen in the city he loved.”
This story first ran in the limited series & TV filmer edition of Thewrap’s Awards Magazine.
Read more from the question of limited series and TV films here.
