Oscar-winning actress Regina King is having a great week. First, she received an Emmy nomination for her role on HBO’s Watchmen. Today, it was announced that her feature directorial debut, One Night In Miami, has been recently acquired by Amazon studios.
Written by Kemp Powers (Pixar's Soul) and based on the Olivier-nominated writer’s 2013 stage play of the same name, the film tells a fictionalized story of a real-life event the night of February 25, 1964 when Cassius Clay (later known as Muhammad Ali) shook the sports world by clinching the title of World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Following the match, Clay (Eli Goree) celebrated his victory at Miami's Hampton House Motel with his close friends activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and football player Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge).
“One Night In Miami beautifully captures a significant moment in history when these great minds gathered and ultimately helped shape the conversation of what we know today as the civil rights movement,” Amazon Studios’ head Jennifer Salke said. “Regina King is a force of nature – mastering her craft in front of the camera as we’ve seen in her extensive body of work, and now taking her talent behind the camera."
Variety reported that many studios vied for worldwide rights to the film, and that “insiders say it was one of the biggest independent film sales in history.” According to Amazon, One Night In Miami will be featured at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival and released later this year as a potential film awards competitor.