Ten years ago, Miles Davis' nephew Vince Wilburn said that the only person who could ever play his uncle was Don Cheadle. And now, 10 years later, his wish is finally coming true. Cheadle isn't only starring in the movie; he also co-wrote and directed Miles Ahead. To say that he put his heart and soul into the film would be an understatement.
On Tuesday the world finally got a glimpse of Cheadle as Davis in the newly released trailer for the movie.
"If you gonna tell a story, come at it with some attitude, man," Cheadle says at the beginning of the trailer.
And from the looks of the trailer, the movie is definitely filled with a lot of attitude.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cheadle spoke about how he decided to frame Davis' life:
Biopics, where I guess you could say tropes; I would say they’re also just signposts you have to hit along the way. When you set out to make a biopic, the purpose, whether stated or not, is usually to hit the highlights or lowlights of someone’s life in order to crescendo at the end. It is trope, I guess that’s the word. But I thought, especially with someone like Miles Davis, whose life seemed to [be] very antithetical to that, and whose art was so mercurial and spontaneous and not dedicated to any sort of form that he had done before. He went on to the next thing and he kind of never looked back. I thought it would really be totally anathema to him to do something that felt standard, so to speak.
Cheadle's film is already being talked about in terms of potential nominations during the next awards season, and although he said he attends the Oscars only if he's nominated, he does have a good reason to want to attend this year.
"I might want to be there this year just to watch Chris Rock, but I have yet to make plans. … This could be a career-defining moment for him. I hope he just goes in and gets everybody," Cheadle said.