Heralded doc maker Burns making film on Muhammad Ali
The late Muhammad Ali is getting the Ken Burns treatment.
The PBS documentarian announced Tuesday that he and two partners will make a two-part, four-hour film about the former heavyweight champ, who died in June. Burns, his daughter Sarah and David McMahon collaborated for a PBS documentary on Jackie Robinson that debuted last year.
The tentative plan is to air the Ali film in 2021.
Sarah Burns said the outpouring of goodwill at Ali’s death made it easy to forget how divisive it was when the former Cassius Clay took the Ali name when he converted to Islam and refused to join the Army during the Vietnam War. Ali was convicted of draft evasion in June 1967 and sentenced to five years in prison, but he never served any time. His conviction was later overturned.
Sarah Burns said filmmakers want to examine what influenced the Louisville, Ky., native’s choices and how he stuck with them despite public condemnation.