Don Cheadle's biopic of Miles Davis, Miles Ahead, has been picked up by Sony Pictures, which immediately dropped the ball by misidentifying perhaps the greatest musician of the 20th Century.
"What Don Cheadle has done here with the spirit of Miles Davis is truly astounding," reads the press release from Sony. "We are not only witnessing for the first time this part of Miles Davis' story as it deserves to be told, but also the birth of a major film director who happens to portray the iconic singer in a jaw dropping performance."
Wait, what?
Davis was an iconic bandleader, trumpet player, saxophone player...you name it. He certainly was not an iconic singer. We at Music Times don't suggest using Wikipedia as your sole source of information...but it would have done a staffer at Sony well to look into what the heck Davis actually did with his life.
There's good news and bad news: The good news is that the film has already been made and yes, Cheadle—who both plays the jazz great and directs—actually understands the legacy of the performer and made the film accordingly. That's kind of the bad news too...it'd be hilarious if Sony produced a biopic of Davis with an entirely false premise.
Miles Ahead will show the jazz legend during 1979, after a brief retirement and his return to music. Ewan McGregor will costar as a Rolling Stone reporter and Zoe Saldana as his ex-wife, Frances.
There's no release date for the film yet, but Consequence of Sound suggests that it will make its debut at the New York Film Festival later this year.
We look forward to seeing it, for Cheadle's sake, if not Sony's. Then again, the studio will probably be wrapped up with its biopic on John Coltrane, one of the greatest blues guitarists of all time...right?
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