Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, the Peacock limited series that tells the story of the infamous armed robbery after Muhammad Ali’s historic comeback fight in 1970, has added six more high-profile names to the cast.
With the production start date fast approaching next week, the newcomers include Chloe Bailey, Melvin Gregg, Jalyn Hall, Artrece Johnson, Clifton Powell and Lori Harvey.
They join a cast previously announced that will feature Don Cheadle, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, Terrence Howard and Dexter Darden, who’s set to play Ali.
Set in Atlanta and based on the eponymous iHeartPodcast, the series follows Ali’s return to the ring after being banned from boxing for more than three years for refusing induction into the military, and the after-party where hundreds of fight fans were robbed at gunpoint.
The dramatic robbery, which was was considered to be one of the largest armed robberies in the U.S., helped introduce the world to the city’s criminal underground, and the police office and the hustler at the center of it all, according to Deadline.
Ali had been inactive from the boxing ring since March 1967, but still he would be able to shake off the rust and defeat Quarry after three rounds at the Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta, Georgia.
While many people waited to read the details of all the fight action the next morning in the newspapers, many of the national headlines were instead focused on the heist at the after-party.
It turns out many fans celebrating Ali’s triumphant return, including top black mafia leaders, were given invitations, but when they arrived they were greeted by criminals with sawed-off shotguns.
One of the first detectives in Atlanta’s desegregated police force, J.D. Hudson (Cheadle), who helped lead Ali into the ring, ended up being assigned to crack the robbery by the chief of police.
Created and written by Shaye Ogbonna, the filmmaker will also serve as an executive producer and co-showrunner alongside Jason Horwitch.
In addition to the duo and Hart, executive producers also include Bryan Smiley and Mike Stein for Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat, Packer and Sabrina Wind for Will Packer Media, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman for iHeartPodcasts,
Jeff Keating and Lars Jacobson will also be apart of the executive producer teams
Craig Brewer joins the team of executive producers and he directs directs episodes 101, 102, 107 and 108.
Set in Atlanta, the series follows Muhammad Ali’s return to the ring against Jerry Quarry in October 1970 after being banned from boxing for refusing induction into the military, and the after-party that followed where hundreds of guests were robbed at gunpoint
Created and written by Shaye Ogbonna, the filmmaker will also serve as an executive producer for the limited series and co-showrunner alongside Jason Horwitch
In the three-plus years leading to the bout, Ali had refused to be inducted into the armed forces amid the growing conflict of the Vietnam War.
From there, the boisterous former boxing champion was then systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport.
As a result, he did not fight from March 1967 to October 1970 — wiping away his pivotal prime years of ages 25 to almost 29 — as his case worked its way through the appeals process before his conviction was ultimately overturned in 1971.
Muhammad Ali would proceed to reclaim his heavyweight championship when he defeated George Foreman in the Rumble In The Jungle in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) in October 1974.
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