Actors share techniques
Four legends come to life in Regina King’s ‘One Night in Miami’
“One Night in Miami” not only marks Oscar winner Regina King’s feature directorial debut, it offers a story about an evening in February 1964, when four soon-to-be-legendary Black men met.
That night a boxer named Cassius Clay defeated Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship. Afterwards he met with singer Sam Cooke, football star Jim Brown and Nation of Islam political activist Malcolm X.
The next day Clay announced he joined the Nation of Islam and would be known as Muhammad Ali.
The four actors were asked how they began to step into these mighty shoes.
Eli Goree as Cassius Clay: “I had prepared for this role for two years because I had another opportunity for a film. I had trained for four months and didn’t get it. I was crushed.
“People tell me I favor the young Cassius Clay, so the next time this opportunity came I was going to be ready. I got a dialect coach, I started gaining weight with a personal trainer. I was obsessed with Cassius Clay for a year and a half. He’s one of those people where you can never learn everything.”
Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke: “Sam’s left so much music I started there. There were a couple of moments in the movie that are called ‘needle drops,’ like (his hits) ‘You Send Me’ and ‘Sentimental Reasons,’ where I got to go in the studio and literally start with the singing voice. Sam in a way is one of my teachers, singing is an oral tradition, but I’ve never tried to imitate him in this way.”
Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown: “One aspect was to capture Jim’s very distinctive cadence. He had a very specific intonation. Back in the day, in the ‘60s, there was a different bob, a different rhythm to how people spoke and how they addressed one another and how they moved.
“I didn’t watch any football videos, I didn’t watch any of his films — they came after this. What I watched continuously were videos of his work with activists. I just wanted to see who he was addressing these cultural, social issues — and get his cadence.
“Trying to maintain the voice without sounding like a caricature of him, I kept on point by always going to Regina and saying, ‘Do I sound weird?’ She said, ‘No.’”
Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X: “Wearing the headphones, I tried to stay with Malcolm and listened to as many hours as I could. Because I was petrified of getting it wrong. The preparation was such a whirlwind, to find out where Malcolm might be in terms of his fears, his hopes and dreams.
“Something I learned from watching some of the great actors on ‘Inside the Actors Studios’ over the years, Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Peter O’Toole, they all talk about the seriousness of going over the lines 250 times — minimum! — to try and digest it in your body.
“So when we come in with Regina on the floor, it’s in you and you’re not thinking about it.”
(“One Night in Miami” streams Friday on Amazon.)